Helen Joseph Hospital fails to spend R98 million on machinery and equipment

7 November 2024

Despite the acute need, the Helen Joseph Hospital failed to spend R98 million budgeted for machinery and equipment in the last five years.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

A total of R262 million was budgeted for machinery and equipment from April 2019 to March this year, but only R164 million was spent.

The hospital underspent its total budget in three of the past five years, and overspent in two of the years, mostly on staff compensation.

According to the department, the hospital is over 70 years old and requires an upgrade of its water infrastructure, the wards and offices need to be fixed, and all the air handling units need to be replaced.

There are 32 Administration and Support staff vacancies, but all posts have now been frozen by the department.

I asked why the toilets and bathrooms had not been fixed for many years, and the response was as follows:

"A shortfall in funding has limited the amount of preventative maintenance that can be done. This is coupled with delayed responses from our infrastructure partner, and vandalism such as theft of flushing mechanisms, and of toilet seats. There are also insufficient artisans to respond to all needs."

The viral video by Tom London exposed how bad this hospital is for patients, with poor staff attitudes and crumbling infrastructure.

The failure to spend R98 million is shocking and shows poor financial management. It is also inexcusable that the hospital has not had a permanent CEO since May last year.

A top-notch CEO should be appointed as soon as possible to properly spend the R1.7 billion budget, as well as provide sorely needed leadership at this long-neglected hospital.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 7 November 2024