No water at Steve Biko Hospital

5 May 2021

Steve Biko Hospital has been without water for two days, causing huge disruption to staff and patients.

It appears that the problem is internal, due to years of poor maintenance on the pipes.

Water tankers have been sent to the hospital, but toilets are blocked and sick patients from higher floors have to go down to lower floors for their ablutions.

This situation is unacceptable as hygiene is severely affected and the risk of infection increases.

The hospital was built quite recently as it opened in 2006, so it is inexcusable that building faults keep recurring, including broken lifts.

The Gauteng Health Department needs to urgently improve maintenance and the safety of hospitals, otherwise patients and staff will continue to suffer from defects which can escalate disastrously, as we have seen with the recent fire at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 5 May 2021