The cost of repairing the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg is now estimated at R1.1bn, the Gauteng legislature heard this week.

Earlier this year, the cost of fixing the hospital, which was gutted by fire in April 2021, was estimated at R1.7bn by the Gauteng infrastructure development department while the private sector had put estimations at about R1bn.

The legislature's health committee was t+old in a quarterly briefing, which included the provincial health and infrastructure development departments on Tuesday, that estimates are now R1.1bn.

Health portfolio committee chair Dr Rebecca Digamela told TimesLIVE the committee was satisfied and believed progress was being made to repair the hospital and ensure it is fully operational next year.

“It's an issue I raised personally where I asked: 'how can you as the department say it would take R1.7bn to fix the hospital while the private sector is estimating R1bn, with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) saying it would take R700m to fix Charlotte Maxeke?'.

“So far, since the involvement of the DBSA and the national department of health, there's meaningful progress ... saving R600m is much better than the initial pricing,” Digamela said.

DA shadow MEC of health Jack Bloom said: “No further delays can be tolerated as thousands of patients are suffering because of the slow progress in fixing this major hospital.”

Health minister Dr Joe Phaahla announced the DBSA was appointed as the project implementing agent to lead the repairs.

Phaahla said the DBSA had been working with donors, including the Gift of the Givers, who came forward to assist. 

Fire tore through parts of the hospital, which is one of the biggest tertiary health facilities in the country, on April 16 2021.

Earlier this month, the hospital started reopening and treating patients after about R68m was spent on repair work, according to Phaahla. The hospital was operating at 75% to 80%.

TimesLIVE