A video that has gone viral on social media shows a seemingly huge quantity of bed frames exposed to the sun and rain outside the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.
Some of the beds are even hi-tech motorised units that the man shooting the footage calls “good theatre beds”.
The DA’s shadow health MEC Jack Bloom said in a statement on Monday: “Many of them look in good condition, but will deteriorate rapidly in unsheltered conditions.”
He said the video was taken on Wednesday by a man who’d been visiting his son in the paediatric ward.
“This is a clear waste of state assets as these beds should be put to good use instead of rusting outside. There are hospitals that are short of beds where they could be used or they could be donated to non-profit institutions.”
He slammed Gauteng premier David Makhura for still promising to fix healthcare at the ANC’s election rally while admitting it was a “serious weakness”.
In the video, the man taking the footage can be heard expressing his astonishment in Afrikaans at what he is seeing. He says he estimates that he’s seeing 3,000 beds and it’s a complete waste of tax money.
He came across the “scene” coincidentally because he hadn’t been unable to find parking at the hospital. It seemed to have been placed deliberately “2 kilometres” out of the way.
“Where is our tax money going? Why must we suffer? So that our children, mothers and fathers should lie on mattresses on the floor in our state hospitals?”
Take a look below. You may have to activate the video’s audio manually on your device.
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