WHEN WILL JOBURG HOSPITAL'S LIFTS BE FIXED?

The saga of broken lifts at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has gone on now for more than two years. Six lifts are out of action or regularly break down in sections one and two of the hospital that include children and cancer wards.

Some patients actually have to be carried up the stairs. It cannot go on like this. In 2009, 42 hospital lifts in Gauteng were supposed to be replaced but only 34 were put in because of "contractual matters and theft of equipment from the contractor."

The excuses are running out, especially when it is projected that R83 million of the Health Infrastructure Grant will go unspent this year. All previous promises to fix the lifts have not been fulfilled. Can we trust the latest promises?

Statement by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, November 18 2011

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