We know New Zealand is the land of the long white cloud and America the land of opportunity.
South Africa can be labelled as the land of many promises and excuses.
Sadly, many of these promises hold very little water. After all, there have been so many promises to deal with corruption, yet our country keeps on bleeding dry.
There have been promises to cut down on the bloated public sector by at least 30 000 jobs but don’t your hold breath for this to happen if Cosatu has a say in it.
Here in Boksburg, the people of Scribante are still waiting for lifts that work, while the Boksburg Lake after years and years is still not remediated.
And then we have the Tambo Memorial Hospital. Over the years, the Advertiser has reported on many nightmares and horrific ordeals taking place at this state facility which is ironically supposed to instil calmness and hope.
Back in 2015, there was a flicker of hope when the then Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said the Gauteng Department of Health intends to build a new Tambo Memorial Hospital to replace the fast ageing 105 years old existing building.
The news was met with excitement. After all, after 105 years, surely something needs to be done to restore this building, and therefore proper health service available for all.
Again, is this not another promise of government – accessible and professional health care for all?
Well, it seems not. Mahlangu, who was of course embroiled of late in the Life Esidimeni saga, has come and gone, yet the building in Boksburg is still falling apart.
Mahlangu said, sort of like a promise, that her department will try and speed up the process to construct the new hospital buildings because they are unable to rehabilitate the existing ones.
She added that replacing the current structure will be cost-effective and cheaper than maintaining the existing facility.
Fast forward to the year 2018, critical daily maintenance is still keeping alive one of the oldest state hospitals in Gauteng. This was made evident during a recent DA oversight visit to the hospital.
Granted, it will cost an estimated R800-million to replace the current building. That is a lot of money, or maybe not if all the money isn’t constantly being stolen from the coffers.
Of late, the Special Investigating Unit had been asked to investigate how the State Attorney colluded with private law firms to defraud the government around R80-b. This is after a group of doctors and lawyers face allegations of fraud for falsifying medical negligence claims against the state.
So yes folks, there is plenty of money in this country, and plenty of money to restore Tambo Memorial Hospital and thus critical health care.
The problem is not about money, but it seems to be about selfish priorities and agendas that revolve around the individual and not the masses.
The reality is, Boksburg urgently needs a state-of-the-art hospital. Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa has conceded that “most areas” of the hospital do not comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act because of the age and the dilapidated state of the structure.
Yes, the hospital is not safe. Yet daily the government allows patients into that building, almost like pushing a child in the gaping jaws of a monster.
We may wonder how this can be possible, but then again, this is the same government that moved patients from Life Esidimeni facilities to various NGOs, which resulted in the death of around 144 mentally ill patients.
Therefore, do not be surprised that the government is turning a blind eye to a hospital that is falling apart.
This is the same government that has taken no decisive action now for years to do something about the state hospital in Kempton Park, which was abandoned on the day after Christmas in 1996.
It was recently reported that R127-m has been allocated to demolish the 350-bed Kempton Park Hospital. I personally would love to see a breakdown of costs as to why government needs to fork out so much money for a demolition job.
It is because the hospital in Kempton Park was left to continually fall apart that it has become an ever greater headache now to address, just as what is happening in Boksburg.
One has to remember the hospital in Boksburg caters for people residing in Boksburg‚ Benoni‚ Kempton Park‚ parts of Germiston and surrounding informal settlements. This is not a trivial matter, but one of life and death.
This is indeed a sad state of affairs. And then we are not just talking about how the building is falling apart, but how the treatment received at the hospital leaves plenty to the imagination.
Do not hold your breath that much will happen or anytime soon.
Remember, the government is pushing for National Health Insurance (therefore even further crippling taxpayers) because state hospital has failed to provide proper health care. And whose fault is that – the government!
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