MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu confirmed, during a recent parliamentary session, that the department is considering relocating Addington Hospital.
Simelane-Zulu was responding to questions about the he 141-year-old hospital’s faulty lifts that have been a constant feature for a number of years and led to patients having to climb stairs on their own.
The MEC suggested that the hospital’s close proximity to the beach was one of the main causes for its maintenance problems.
ALSO READ: MEC blames aging infrastructure for Addington Hospital’s woes
Addington was designated as one of the country’s Coronavirus response facilities with a dedicated Covid-19 ward.
“The salt air that comes from the ocean affects our lifts continuously and the rust that has been always there is what has been affecting our lifts. As a result we are looking at options of moving the hospital away from where it currently is and building a structure that will actually be manageable and be friendly to patients,” she said.
“The issue of lifts in Addington is going to continue to be a problem, primarily because of the location of the hospital. Addington Hospital is located just opposite the sea, it’s on the beachfront, on an area where you usually have a lot of hotels. It is a facility that is close to 8-storeys high*, so the building itself is quite high.”
ALSO READ: DA barred from visiting Addington Hospital
In 2013, the department spent R1 billion on maintenance and structural upgrades on the hospital including lifts, pipes, roofs and drainage systems among others.
Berea Mail has emailed questions to the department to find out which stage of the process they are currently in.
The department did not send their comment at the time this article was published.
*In contradiction to the MEC’s statement, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health website listed Addington Hospital as a 16- storey building.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za). At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.
Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535. You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple
Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.
