Key services have been restored at the Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital after a fire resulted in the temporary closure of the facility.

Head of department at the Gauteng health department, Mkhululi Lukhele, said the pharmacy, three theatres and surgical wards would be opened. Lukhele explained that plans would also be made to bring back the patients who were transferred to other facilities during the evacuation on Monday. However, the majority of patients have since been been discharged.

“We are also pleased to announce that the department of infrastructure development’s service provider is on site replacing the filters prioritising causality and out-patient department and other wards”,  Lukhele said.

He said investigations were under way to establish what had caused the fire which damaged part of the administration area of the hospital.

“The investigation on the cause of the fire is still ongoing and we commit to continuously update our stakeholders on the progress. Although we might have lost some documents during the fire, it is important to share with you that most of the documents in the hospital are saved electronically and there are back-up files.”

He assured members of the public that officials were working to ensure that the hospital remained fully operational, adding that the department of labour had been notified on progress made so far.

mahopoz@sowetan.co.za