The Gauteng Health Department has admitted that nothing has happened concerning Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s promise in February last year to expand health services by buying 18 private hospitals.
Lesufi said there would be a Private Public Partnership (PPP) with a workers’ pension fund, but the Department says in a written reply to my questions that they “have not entered into any agreement for private hospitals acquisition.”
So, it’s yet another failed Lesufi promise that dashes the expectations of patients fed up with long queues in public hospitals.
The Department points to existing partnerships with private facilities, and it says four new hospitals are planned to be built but “due to the current fiscal challenges, the majority of these projects have been put on hold for the time being.”
The status of the four planned hospitals is as follows:
• Daveyton Hospital — Land acquired, stage 1 engineering and architectural designs completed.
• Orange Farm — Land acquisition and land suitability underway.
• Olivenhoutbosch— Land Acquisition and suitability underway.
• Soshanguve — Land identification underway.
In addition, the Johan Heyns Community Health Centre is being refurbished to become a district hospital.
I doubt whether any of the four hospitals will be built in the next 10 years as this Department is grossly mismanaged.
The DA in Gauteng will continue to push for competent and honest people in key positions to ensure quality public healthcare.