Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development Tasneem Motara told Eyewitness News that ‘if we were to really comply with the letter of the law, all our hospitals should be condemned’.
Charlotte Maxeke Hospital’s delays are a result of its failure to meet the existing requirements of the Building Regulations Act, and occupational health and safety laws.
The City of Johannesburg, which implements the regulations, has required the provincial government to revisit its repairs since the fire as they didn’t meet the City’s standards, and demanded compliance before the hospital can be declared legally fit for full occupation.
Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, like many others, was built in the apartheid era in the 1960s, and it doesn’t comply with the recent regulations.
Motara couldn’t predict when the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital would return to full service, given the complexities and unpredictability of the construction work under way.
Motara provided clarity on the question of when the hospital would re-open.
She said that chasing compliance is complicated but necessary to meet current standards. ‘We have continued to make the argument that our buildings may be structurally sound, but there are very definite aspects of compliance that we are not meeting, and if those are not met, we are actually just occupying a building illegally’.
The request to open wards and floors as and when they were completed was turned down by the City.
Another problem is the absence of adequate building plans for the facility.
At Dr George Mukhari Hospital they found bunkers under the foundations. The bunkers are not on any building plans.
Charlotte Maxeke Hospital is over 60 years old, and to meet the compliance specifications of the City, the plans have to be revised.
[Photo: EWN]