Charlotte Maxeke emergency unit ‘to open soon’

The Gauteng Health Department says it is prioritising the reopening of the emergency unit at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital (CMJAH).

MEC for health Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi ensured the public that the work at the hospital will be done as quickly as possible, to get the unit running again.

Mokgethi did not give an update of when the emergency unit will be operational again.

After the emergency unit was damaged by a fire on 16 April 2021, the public and the health sector have been concerned about the delays in rebuilding that part of the hospital.

Meanwhile, the vandalism done to CMJAH has brought about delays in the refurbish process.

“The work to complete the casualty section suffered a setback recently due to theft of copper piping, electrical wiring and circuit breakers from the works and disruption of the site by the local community,” Dr Mokgethi said in the statement.

ALSO READ: Health MEC blames vandalism for delays in reopening casualty at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Dr Nomathemba hopes for the following to happen to prepare for the handover:

• Deep cleaning of the areas that are handed back to the CMJAH;
• The City of Joburg (CoJ) will be checking for the compliance of the areas and issuing operational certificates. CoJ application and submission was made on the first week of March;
• Installation of health technology equipment;
• Retraining of staff on evacuation procedures
• Recalling of CMJAH casualty staff that were placed at CHBAH and HJH including surrounding facilities to reopen the casualty at Charlotte;

“Our goal is to see the facility being fully functional by the end of the year,” MEC Mokgethi said.

Security

According to the Gauteng Health Department, security has been beefed up with restrictions to the affected areas.

Vandalism

According to the statement made before the sectional handover last week Thursday, the provincial health department was awaiting for the handover of the unit from contractors as they had to replace what was vandalised.

Also, they are in the process of refurbishing what was vandalised.

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