MBOMBELA – The Portfolio Committee on Health has raised alarm over the dire state of Mapulaneng Hospital in Mpumalanga.
The Committee has described the overall condition of the facility as unacceptable. This follows an oversight visit after the recent floods that ravaged the province.
The Committee has sighted decayed infrastructure, funding constraints, staff shortages, critical equipment lying unused and stalled construction of a replacement hospital.
The Chairperson of the Committee, Faith Muthambi, says urgent intervention is needed, adding:
“It’s not safe at all. They are sitting on a ticking timebomb because the building is not user friendly at all and a lot of issues that we picked up need urgent attention.”
While the construction of the new hospital was supposed to have been completed in July 2025, Muthambi says the project has been further delayed, with a new July 2026 deadline.
“A contractor who was supposed to deal with phase three has been put under business rescue, and that makes us worry if there is any readiness to move to the new facilities in the next three months.”
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Muthambi said project managers in both the Department of Health and Public Works failed to take due diligence to ensure a timely completion of the project.
“Somebody should have picked up these red flags long ago. They should have then enforced remedial action and got competent contractors who could do the work. There should be consequence management.”
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