Rampant leaks at Joburg hospital

17 March 2016

Leaks from the ceiling are rampant at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, and staff are worried about serious structural damage because of years of poor maintenance.

I discovered this yesterday when I did an inspection visit of the hospital.

The following areas are of concern:

- There are two buckets to collect water that leaks from broken ceiling panels at the Hospital Street level.

- Leaks at various rooms at the Ward 256 Paediatric Clinic. A consultation room there is used for storage because of faeces that leaked into it from the ceiling last year. The intercom was damaged in February last year by water leaks and has still not been fixed.

- Leaks outside the Block 3 operating theatres. Last year, surgery had to be stopped in one of the theatres because of leaking water.

- Large ceiling panels are missing at Ward 348 Radiation Oncology, with a huge bucket placed underneath to collect water.

There are also leaks in other parts of the hospital and in the parking garages. Sewage is sometimes mixed in as well, causing a foul smell.

I am concerned that structural defects at the hospital are causing the leaks, which management has done little to fix despite many staff complaints.

In 2012 there was a report on structural defects at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital that warned that the X-ray department should be evacuated as it  could collapse.

The report identified structural defects on the fifth floor of the building and recommended R50 million worth of urgent repairs, but the province's chief engineer Tsepo Matekane has said that this is not necessary.

I am going to push for answers about the general state of the building and why the leaks continue to disturb staff and patients.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 17 March 2016