No security at decaying Kopanong Hospital as grass grows around incomplete new wards

9 March 2022

No security guards are to be seen at the decrepit Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging as they have not been paid, and grass is growing around the incomplete new wards that were meant to be for Covid-19 patients.

This is what DA Emfuleni Councillor Daddy  Mollo found when he visited the hospital this week after receiving complaints about the poor state of the hospital building.

His photos can be seen here, here and here .

The medical staff are concerned by the lack of security and the decay of the old hospital.

Ceilings are broken and the floors also need urgent repair.

Meanwhile, about R200 million was spent on new wards using Alternative Building Technology (ABT) which were supposed to be completed 18 months ago when the Covid-19 epidemic was accelerating.

These wards were supposed to have 300 ICU beds, but the contractor failed to finish the job.

It’s a sad tale of incompetence by the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department which has failed to fix the old hospital building and wasted a huge amount of money with the unfinished new wards.

The Gauteng Health Department has not yet decided on what to do with the new wards if a new contractor can be found to finish them.

I will raise these issues in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as the Kopanong hospital needs to be upgraded to provide decent care to sick people in the Vaal area.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 9 March 2022