Government still undecided about abandoned hospital

Gauteng Department of Infrastructure has not yet made any decision with regards to the future of the abandoned Kempton Park Hospital building.

This is according to Refiloe Nt’sekhe, MPL, and DA Tembisa constituency head.

“This was revealed to me by the Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development, Tasneem Motara, in a written reply to my written questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

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• R12.8-m investigation shows Kempton Park Hospital is structurally sound

“According to Motara, an investigation was done by engineers in April 2015 to determine the condition of Kempton Park Hospital. There were no unacceptable deformations and cracks detected in the building. A recommendation was made in terms of a complete refurbishment and conversion of the existing facility into a district hospital,” said Nt’sekhe in a statement released on Monday.

“Four years later, the department has not yet implemented the recommendations and this has resulted in the building showing some definite defects due to a lack of regular and proper maintenance for several years. It is high time that the department makes a decision about the future of this hospital as Tembisa Hospital continues to struggle to service people from Kempton Park and neighbouring suburbs.

“If this hospital is refurbished and re-opened it will help to ease pressure at Tembisa Hospital, which is currently overcrowded and unable to render adequate health services to our people.

“I will continue to put pressure on Motara and MEC for Health Bandile Masuku to ensure that this hospital is revamped and re-opened as people in this area are in dire need of this facility,” she said.

Kempton Express reported in August that the investigation was conducted on behalf of the Department of Health by AMCE Consulting Engineers at a cost of R12.8-million. “No major structural problems were found and the estimated cost for refurbishment would be is R1.1-b.

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