A year after floods devastated the already dilapidated Greenville Hospital in eastern Mpondoland, frustrated patients say infrastructure problems continue to restrict services after parts of the rundown facility were forced to shut down.
They told Daily Dispatch that despite the water supply system having been repaired, and some improvements to the exterior of the building, conditions inside the hospital have remained largely unchanged since the February 2025 floods.
Last May, after years of protests and complaints over the dire conditions at the hospital, the Eastern Cape Health Department began rolling out a multi-phased development project to turn it into a state-of-the-art facility.
Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa said at the time that the government would spend more than R400m on upgrading the hospital, first established more than 125 years ago, over several phases.
But this week, patients said they were often made to wait outside for services because some areas of the building were still unsafe.
While acknowledging that the staff continued to assist patients in difficult conditions, they said damp, crumbling walls and visibly ageing buildings were a concern, and that after Capa’s visit last year, their hopes had been raised that improvements would be made.
Greenville Hospital board chair Benedictor Dazela said the infrastructure upgrades had been “constrained by the limited land available and the need to keep the hospital operational during construction”.
“There is no space for more buildings without interrupting services, and some walls were on the brink of collapsing, so we had to move patients,” he said.
Patients had been transferred to neighbouring hospitals to reduce risk: TB patients were moved to the Khotsong TB Hospital in the Alfred Nzo district, while others were taken to St Patrick’s Hospital in the OR Tambo district.
Temporary prefabricated structures had been installed to support services, including clinics, HR offices and accommodation for nurses.
Dazela said the refurbishment was being implemented in phases due to the land limitations, but admitted that infrastructure challenges continued to affect services.
He said the water supply issues had been resolved and contractors had been instructed to repair additional rooms to reduce the need to transfer patients to facilities in other towns.
Eastern Cape Health spokesperson Camagwini Mavovana said repair work had begun on parts of the buildings.
She said the project followed a layered implementation model, with construction being carried out in sections so the hospital could remain operational.
“Services were restored once the contractor had completed civil repairs, including declogging blocked pipelines and making provisions to prevent future water ingress,” Mavovana said.
The remaining steps included a decanting process, where services had been temporarily relocated to allow for further construction.
“This is not just about refurbishment. A new facility, so to speak, is being built.”
She said the completion of the final phases was expected in about November 2027 or early 2028.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
125-year-old Eastern Cape hospital in dire straits
Eastern Cape hospitals flounder under surgical backlogs and massive debts
Spotlight: Little or no improvement in dire state of Eastern Cape hospitals