Cause of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital fire remains a mystery

Ten months after a fire ravaged parts of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, the Gauteng department of health does not know how the fire started, saying investigations are still ongoing.

To speed up the renovations, the provincial health department has turned to its national counterpart after it could not agree with Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) on the cost of renovations for the hospital.

Speaking at a media briefing where the provincial health bosses gave an update on the academic hospital, Gauteng Acting DG Thabo Masebe said everyone involved was concerned about the pace the project was moving with.

"Everyone is concerned; clinicians are concerned about their patients and the pace the project was moving with and parties have also expressed concern, saying the facility was taking too long.

"One of the causes for the delays in the remedial work needed at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital was there was no agreement between health and infrastructure development as health didn't give the scope of work needed and the two couldn't agree with the budget," Masebe said.

On Sunday the Gauteng government announced the suspension of nine senior officials, some of whom include officials from GDID.

Masebe said because they did not want a repeat of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in the West rand flagged by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), where the contract ballooned to ten times the original amount, they turned to the national department of health for help.

"On February 9, Premier David Makhura signed a proclamation transferring the remedial work of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital to national. We agreed on this due to the capacity constraints we're experiencing due the suspension of the officials," he said.

He added they did not want a situation where they overpaid for renovations.

"We're coming from a situation where the SIU revealed we spent in excess of R500m for AngloGold Ashanti Hospital, which still hasn't been fully utilized," Masebe said.

Head of health facilities and infrastructure management Ayanda Dakela said his role was to ensure the facility was functional in the short time possible.

He added they had identified areas that needed urgent attention and also identified areas where the facility failed to comply with occupational health and safety.

"We've identified structural issues and other challenges such as parking for staff. There’s a plan in place where some items can be done immediately," Dakela said.

Charlotte Maxeke Hospital CEO Gladys Bogoshi said the facility had been working under severe restrictions, which included the shutdown of the casualty ward.

Bogoshi said after 11 months the casualty ward would be opened for the first time.

"We've been operating with some restrictions and patients have been struggling, and in health the most important resource is human resources, and our staff has also been struggling," he said.

Asked what the total renovation cost was, Bogoshi said assessments by the national health department still needed to be done before a figure could be given out.

"The Solidarity Fund assisted us with a R68m donation for block one. Initial assessments done said block one would cost R68m but as work started, more things came up which increased costs.