NO POWER IN HOSPITAL WARD

A hospital ward at the Yusuf Dadoo Hospital in Krugersdorp has been without electricity since last week.

Staff have used candles to light ward 13 at night and patients have suffered because there is no heating. The problem started on Thursday last week when the power failed due to faulty cables in a distribution box.

Contractors got it working on Friday but it failed again over the weekend. Repairs are being done today so hopefully the power will be restored.

But it's yet another example of the maintenance crisis in Gauteng hospitals due to poor management. The scandal is that Gauteng did not spend all its maintenance budget last year.

This is why Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has cut R72.6 million from this year's Hospital Revitalisation Grant for Gauteng.

We need proper management, as in the Western Cape which was the only province to spend its full maintenance grant last year and escape Gordhan's cuts this year.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, May 3 2011

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