Gauteng hospitals’ maintenance backlogs of R2.5 billion puts the lives of patients and staff at risk

Many of our hospitals are simply falling apart and despite warnings to the Gauteng Department of Health, no steps have been taken since 2017 to remedy the situation. In addition, the longer the facilities deteriorate, the higher the cost to repair the damage.

See pictures here, here, here and here.

An explosive report was presented to the Health Portfolio Committee in Gauteng which highlighted the fact that there is a backlog of maintenance in the facilities that would cost an estimated R2.5 billion to fix.

The report highlights that some of the infrastructure issues may compromise the safety and health of patients, for example, theatres not being available, the inability to sterilise critical equipment, and not being able to provide food to patients.

This is reminiscent of warnings to the national government in 1998 to urgently build additional power-generating capacity. These warnings and recommendations were ignored and today our economy suffers the consequence of electricity shortages.

Whether the abdication of responsibility by the Health Department is based on incompetence or a lack of budget is not known, since the department has not provided input as to their failure.

Much of the mechanical equipment in the hospitals, which includes boilers, chillers, autoclaves, lifts, and generators have reached the end of its service lifespan and must be replaced. For example, of the 86 boilers, 45 have passed their expected service life of 30 years, some of which are more than 55 years old.

There is also a backlog in the refurbishment of facilities to deal with occupational health and safety regulations which are not adhered to.

This is expected to cost an additional 6 to 8 billion Rand to address.

The expectation of residents for a better future has been dashed by a government that has shown itself to be incapable of running a modern province, including the ability to manage infrastructure.

Although the Premier has announced he would remove the maintenance function from the Department of Infrastructure and transfer this responsibility to the health facilities themselves, there is now some doubt as to whether these facilities have the expertise and resources to do so. The DA will ensure that a lack of due diligence in terms of the Premier’s announcement will not exacerbate the already dire condition of health facilities. This is one of many empty promises made by Premier Makhura during his time in office, and it is high time that he vacates the office.

The government has dashed the hopes of citizens by depleting the fiscus to the point that it will take a very long time to plug the backlog. The DA will pressurise the Department of Health to reprioritise its budget to speed up the process of rectifying the maintenance failure.

Were skinny jeans and armchairs delivered to Tembisa hospital? Department won’t tell so I will see for myself

The Gauteng Health Department has refused to confirm whether over-priced skinny jeans, luxury armchairs and hand towels were delivered to the hospital after paying R1.5 million for these items.

In a written reply to my questions regarding the purchase of these items by the hospital, Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi responded as follows:

“The office of the Premier has appointed the special investigating unit (SlU) to investigate all matters related to the alleged fraudulent activities in Tembisa tertiary Hospital that were flagged by the late Ms Babita Deokaran.

A process of scoping and gathering more information on top of what is currently being publicised regularly in the media. To that extent, the Department is unable to respond to all matters raised in the question from (i) — (x) pending the finalisation of the investigations.”

This is a poor excuse not to answer at least some of my questions on these suspicious purchases, including whether the items were actually delivered.

Why is the department scared to answer this simple question?

If they won’t tell me, I will find out for myself.

According to a News24 investigation, the hospital paid R850 million to fishy companies for over-priced goods, including R500 000 for 100 leather armchairs, face cloths at R230 a piece, and 200 skinny jeans for young girls at R2500 each.

Meanwhile, patients suffer because of a shortage of beds and equipment at this overcrowded hospital.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 21 September), I will visit Tembisa Hospital at 10am and see if I can find out if the armchairs, jeans and face cloths are at the hospital.

Media are welcome to attend.

Cover-up! Gauteng Health Department falsely denied Tembisa hospital CEO misconduct charge

The Gauteng Health Department falsely denied that suspended Tembisa Hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi was appointed as the CEO last year while facing a disciplinary charge that should have disqualified him.

In a written reply to my questions signed on 20 June 2022, Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi denied that Mthunzi had been found guilty on a misconduct charge.

But when I asked a question challenging this denial as I had information, he was given a final written warning for misconduct on 15 September 2021, Mokgethi replied as follows:

“On 15 September 2021, the acting Head of Department, Dr Sibongile Zungu approved recommendations that Dr A Mthunzi should be disciplined for contravening the Recruitment and Selection Policy. The Labour Relations Directorate was supposed to implement the said recommendations.”

I asked who had provided the false information that he had not been found guilty on any misconduct charge, and the reply was that it was the former Acting DDG: Hospital Services Mr Freddy Kgongwana.

The important issue is that Mthunzi should never have been appointed as the Tembisa Hospital CEO as he was facing a disciplinary charge that occurred when he was the CEO of the Pholosong Hospital.

According to Mokgethi: “The Selection Committee did not have knowledge or information on Dr Mthunzi’s pending disciplinary hearing whilst at Pholosong Hospital.”

The reason given is that “The Selection Committee was not aware as the information was not in his personal [file] nor in the register of pending disciplinary cases.”

This is the second time that a hospital CEO has been appointed despite facing a disciplinary charge – a Far East Rand Hospital CEO was dismissed after he was found guilty of fraud at his previous hospital position.

I suspect there was a deliberate cover-up of the disciplinary charge facing Mthunzi in order to appoint him as the Tembisa Hospital CEO.

A surge of payments to suspicious companies took place shortly after he was appointed as Acting CEO at Tembisa Hospital in April last year. These payments were flagged by murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran who requested a forensic audit that was never done.

We need to know why Mthunzi’s disciplinary charge was not disclosed to the Selection Committee that appointed him as the permanent CEO in June last year.

Mokgethi says that the department will investigate and take “appropriate action” against those responsible for the incorrect information given to me previously.

This is not good enough. There needs to be a shake-up of the entire top management of the Gauteng Health Department to eliminate a buddy-buddy network that influences appointments and protects those involved in wrongdoing.

It’s an extremely serious matter to provide an incorrect reply to the Gauteng Legislature.

I will be writing to the Speaker to follow up on this.

There must be no cover-up of who pulled the strings to get Mthunzi to head the Tembisa Hospital, which was followed by R850 million payments to fishy companies that Babita Deokaran said were “possibly corrupt.”

Outrage over misspelt signs at Helen Joseph Hospital

Thousands of people have expressed outrage over misspelt signs at the Helen Joseph Hospital that I posted on Twitter earlier this week.

I was sent photographs of the three signs (see here, here and here) and informed that they were possibly from Helen Joseph Hospital. I posted them on Twitter to see if anyone could confirm this.

The signs read as follows:

• Palliance Care
• Anaestheasia
• Dinning Wall

My tweet went viral and Helen Joseph Hospital responded that “The signage was put up a few weeks ago and was immediately corrected after the errors were identified.”

But people were justifiably not satisfied with this response and questioned how this could happen in the first place.

We need to know what fishy company got the contract for this sign, why they were so incompetent and what they were paid for it.

Is this another example of corruption such as we have seen at the Tembisa Hospital which grossly overpaid for items like skinny jeans and luxury armchairs?

I have put in the following questions in the Gauteng Legislature to be answered by the Gauteng Health Department:

“With regard to the signage that was placed in the Helen Joseph Hospital that included “Palliance Care”, “Anaestheasia” and “Dinning Wall”, will the MEC please indicate:

1. What company did the signage;

2. What process was followed in appointing this company;

3. If it was a quote process, what were the companies that gave quotes and how much in rands and cents were each of these quotes;

4. Why were these companies chosen to give the quotes;

5. Who chose the company that did the signage;

6. Why were these mistakes made;

7. How much in rands and cents was paid to the company that made the signs;

8. How many signs in total were put up and how many needed to be replaced;

9. What was the wrong language on the signs that were replaced (please give the actual language in each instance);

10. What was the consequence management for this embarrassing mistake?”

I am determined to get to the bottom of this matter.

There is far too much abuse of hospital money while patients suffer because of poor care.

Murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran uncovered massive corruption at the Tembisa Hospital with suspicious companies controlled by a few individuals.

This may be the case at other hospitals as well.

The DA proposes that all hospital contracts are made public on a website so as to pick up anomalies and enforce compliance with financial controls. This would ensure that competent companies are used that provide value for money instead of ripoffs.

43 attacks on staff at Gauteng hospitals

Staff at 17 public hospitals in Gauteng live in fear after 43 vicious attacks on them by patients since January last year.

Most of their attackers were psychiatric patients who were not kept in properly secured psychiatric wards.

This information is disclosed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

Weskoppies psychiatric hospital had the highest number of attacks – 16 staff were attacked, including 9 slaps/punches to the head, two human bites and one hit on the groin.

George Mukhari Hospital had 5 assaults on staff by mental patients, with two attacks in the Accident and Emergency, one of which was attempted strangulation.

Three of the four attacks at the Far East Rand Hospital were human bites, and the other attack injured the employee’s upper lip and jaw.

Other hospitals with violent incidents include the following:

•Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital – 4 attacks, including a speech therapist who was bitten on the finger
• Bheki Mlangeni Hospital – 4 attacks, of which three were by psychiatric patients
• Steve Biko, Sebokeng, Bertha Gxowa and Leratong Hospitals each suffered two attacks on staff

According to Mokgethi, all the incidents happened in departments other than Psychiatric units, and psychiatric patients are nursed in normal wards due to limited beds in the psychiatric ward.

All mental patients admitted to hospital are required to be observed for 72 hours, but facilities are still inadequate even though pledges were made to improve mental health care after the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

Staff and mental health patients are victims of this neglect which needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

It’s yet another failing of a department plagued by mismanagement and rampant corruption.

We as the DA propose that a proper safety audit of hospitals be conducted, and where security risk is high, especially in hospitals that receive psychiatric patients, adequate steps be taken to ensure the safety of both hospital personnel and patients.

Patients suffer as no central heating at Charlotte Maxeke hospital

Patients at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital have suffered from the cold this past winter as there has been no central heating the entire year.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mokgethi: “The infrastructure has old heating system, which is above 43 years. Additional to this, theft of copper pipes that connects to the reheat boxes affects the temperature.”

Although blankets are available, patients have suffered in cold wards.

It has even affected surgery as three planned operations for newborn babies were deferred for two days due to very cold temperatures, and the operations only proceeded after oil heaters were provided.

The lack of heating is another example of poor maintenance at this major hospital which affects thousands of patients.

Theft of copper despite R40 million a year spent on security is also concerning.

Sick people should be in a comfortable temperature rather than shiver under blankets.

Mokgethi says “a business case is being compiled to replace the old heating
system with the latest technology available in the market.”

This is far too slow for something that should have been fixed long ago.

The DA is pushing for hospital CEOs to have more control over maintenance and infrastructure which would assist in speedy repairs and upgrades.

Shortage of plaster of paris in Gauteng Hospital due to non-payment of supplier

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi has admitted that the non-payment of a supplier caused the five month shortage of plaster of Paris (POP) at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus.

According to a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature, Mokgethi says the POP shortage dates from April this year as “there was a delay in releasing of payment due to the closure of the financial system for updating of the new financial Budget. The total amount R770 238 that was outstanding as at 01/04/2022 but this amount was paid on the 17/05/2022.”

Although this one payment was made, the hospital was still short of POP up to late August when I got donations after a public appeal.

The MEC concedes that “the commodity could not be sourced due to delayed payments to the supplier.”

She says that the POP shortage led to treatment delays. Some patients were referred to other health facilities and POP was sometimes borrowed from other hospitals.

I first raised the alarm about the shortage in early August. It was so bad that doctors were forced to use cardboard splints on fractured bones!

It’s another example of incompetence like the bread shortage at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital earlier this year.

Some companies are owed as long as five years.

The donations I assisted with included six boxes from a Sandton pre-school and a large donation by the Dis-Chem Foundation.

It’s sad that patients suffer because of late payments to suppliers.

The DA will continue to push for all payments to be made within the legally required 30 days.

Western Cape pays many companies within 15 days, so it can be done!

No-one disciplined after damning Tembisa Hospital audit

Not a single person was disciplined at the Tembisa Hospital last year despite a damning audit that found a complete lack of controls in the award of tenders.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legidlature.

According to Mokgethi: “This random audit was conducted per the CFO‘s request to
ensure that compliance on SCM and Financial Management policies were adhered to and ultimately to advice on best practices to improve on financial management performance also to ensure that value for money was achieved.”

The audit started on 17 August last year and the team was withdrawn from the hospital on 23 August, which was the date on which whistleblower Babita Deokaran was murdered.

Controls were found to be ineffective in all of the areas investigated, and given a high risk rating as follows:

1. There was no Demand Management section
2. Central Supplier Database was not utilised as prescribed by National Treasury
3. Request for quotations should not have been received by a Supply Chain Management official
4. Treasury regulations not adhered to in acquisitions
5. Irregular expenditure
6. Budget overspending
7. Payments not made within 30 days

It was noted that a Price Check was not done and could have resulted in additional findings.

Mokgethi says that the report was shared with the hospital CEO and management and “the resultant action plan with progress made, challenges experienced with implementation and alternative actions to be taken was considered in entity exco meetings.”

I am astounded that no staff at the hospital were disciplined after this damning report, and there was no further investigation as requested by Babita Deokaran who flagged hundreds of payments amounting to R850 million as “possibly fraudulent”.

A forensic audit is only being done now after a News24 investigation unearthed fishy companies, gross overcharging, and purchases of luxury armchairs and skinny jeans.

If it wasn’t for diligent journalists, the CFO Lerato Madyo and hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi would not have been suspended.

There should surely have been a rigorous follow-up after this “random audit” was done at the very time that Babita was murdered.

This smacks of a cover-up at the highest levels.

The Health MEC is politically accountable and should be fired immediately.

Her own role in this matter should also be investigated by the Special Investigating Unit.

ANC bigwig scores R14.5m contracts from Tembisa Hospital

ANC bigwig Sello Sekhokho scored R14.5 million in 55 contracts from Tembisa Hospital in the last three years, selling cleaning material, protective clothing, medical consumables, office supplies and groceries.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

Sekhokho is the treasurer-general of the ANC’s Ekurhuleni region. His three companies – Kaizen Projects, Nokokhokho Medical Supplies and Bollanoto Security – got R2.8 million in contracts in 2019, R4.2 million in 2020, and a whopping R7.5 million last year when Dr Ashley Mthunzi took over as hospital CEO.

Mthunzi is now suspended by the Department following the revelation by a News24 investigation that murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran had flagged R850 million worth of contracts at the hospital as “possibly fraudulent.”

It is strange that Sekhokho’s companies sold such a variety of goods to the hospital, including cleaning material, office supplies and even groceries!

Some of the medical equipment he sold to the hospital was grossly overpriced.

And it is suspicious that all the payments were less than R500 000, which means that they don’t go out on tender and are signed off by the hospital CEO.

But according to Mokgethi: “Current management at Tembisa Hospital is not aware of any irregularities with regards to these companies.”

Despite this, she says:

“The Department through its risk management until will conduct an audit on payments made at the facility. This will then provide evidence of transactions that may require forensic investigation should there be evidence enough to link up officials who may have conducted irregularities. The process of conducting forensic investigation is centralized in the office of the Premier.”

Sekhoko has scored massively over the years from contracts with just one hospital. I have asked follow-up questions about how much his companies got from other hospitals as well.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I suspect there are rackets in all the hospitals with collusion by corrupt officials, often deployed ANC cadres.

Other ANC bigwigs use fronts to siphon off huge amounts of money to fund lavish lifestyles and win positions at ANC conferences.

Meanwhile, patients suffer as hospitals waste money on overpriced goods instead of essentials to provide quality treatment.

It’s a heinous crime to steal from sick and poor people, but this is effectively what is happening. I wonder how they sleep at night.

The ANC is in the dock and cannot sidestep responsibility for the systematic looting that costs lives in our public hospitals.

After eight years of promises, this is Premier David Makhura’s biggest failure, but it won’t change after he leaves because only a non-ANC provincial government can fix it.

Surgery waiting lists at Bara Hospital jump from 7300 to 11200

The number of patients waiting for surgery at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has jumped from 7288 last year to 11 194, with some patients told they will have to wait until December 2026 for their operation.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

There are 3394 cataract patients who will wait for a year to regain their sight.

The worst waiting time is for 1777 people who need hip and knee replacements – they will wait for four-and-a-half years!

And 1304 children will wait 6 months for surgery.

In the case of prostate cancer the delay can be life-threatening as 243 patients will wait for 24-36 months for surgery.

According to Mokgethi, the long waiting lists are due to the following:

  • Inadequate theatre time
  • Non-availability if post-op ICU/HCU bed
  • Infrastructure issues such as non-functioning autoclaves, power outage, dysfunctional boilers
  • Prolonged closure of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital trauma unit due to the fire
  • Non-functioning of the Bheki Mlangeni Hospital theatres where elective cataract and minor surgery can be done

Another factor is that 1786 operations were cancelled or deferred last year for various reasons.

The department blames the Covid-19 pandemic for the growing waiting lists, but better management would fix issues like broken equipment.

For many patients, it can take many months before they are diagnosed and placed on the waiting list, so their suffering is immense.

Some waiting lists only get shorter because patients die while waiting.

Surgery blitzes in the evenings and on weekends will help to cut the lists, and private hospitals can be paid to do surgery for public patients.