INVESTIGATION AND ASSESSMENT NEEDED AFTER JOBURG HOSPITAL COLLAPSE

I am hugely relieved that there were no deaths from yesterday's collapse of part of the roof at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, and I wish the five injured people a speedy recovery.

This part of the hospital is normally very busy, with thousands of patients passing there every day, so the casualties could have been much higher.

An independent investigation is now needed into the causes of the collapse.

A structural engineering assessment must also be done urgently into other areas of the hospital that may be in danger of collapse.

There was a report in 2012 that warned about structural problems in the building and staff have complained for years about roofs that leak water and sewage.

In March last year I identified various problem areas in the hospital that needed urgent repair.

Last week the hospital's Poly 3 dental clinic had to be evacuated because parts of the ceiling collapsed.

Staff and patients need to be assured that all parts of the hospital are safe and that problem areas are attended to as soon as possible.

I will be asking questions in the Gauteng Legislature about the appointment of the contractor involved in the roof repair where the collapse happened.

We need to know what measures were taken to ensure that this contractor was competent to do the job as negligence has been blamed as a contributing factor in the collapse.

Or was the contractor not qualified to do the job and appointed on fishy grounds?

I welcome the removal of this contractor from building work on the hospital, but the blame should extend to whoever appointed the company as well.

Maintenance at hospitals should be taken away from the incompetent Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department and given to hospital management.

All relevant facts must be made public and there must be accountability for this terrible tragedy that should serve as a wake up call to give a far higher priority to maintenance and repair of our hospitals.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 3 March 2017