Payment promised to fix broken Gauteng hospital lifts

23 February 2022

Patients are suffering as lifts are broken at public hospitals in Gauteng, but payment has only now been promised for the company which refused to fix them because of months of non-payment.

This was revealed yesterday at a joint meeting of the Health Committee and the Infrastructure Development Committee in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to the Gauteng Health Department, there was a backlog of R143 million owing to a number of service providers dating back to October last year. The Department said that the lift service company was insisting on proof of payment before doing lift repairs, and they would be paid by the end of this week.

South Rand Hospital is worst effected, with all three of its lifts out of action since 17 January this year. There is a terrible smell in the hospital because medical waste is left in wards, and porters have to carry patients on the stairs for surgery. Dead bodies also have to be carried down to the basement mortuary of this 7-storey hospital.

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi has herself complained about the broken lifts at Tembisa Hospital where patients also have to be carried on the stairs.

Other hospitals with frequent broken lifts include the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg, Steve Biko and Edenvale hospitals.

The DA has long proposed that hospitals should be allowed to do their own maintenance so they can make direct payments to reliable contractors that they choose, instead of the dysfunctional and corruption-riven Infrastructure Development Department.

It is ridiculous that hospital managers have no control over maintenance, including critical functions like lifts and air-conditioning.

Maintenance should be given a high priority in our deteriorating public hospitals, including compliance with vital occupational safety legislation.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 23 February 2022