The roof collapse at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, which injured five people has been blamed on 'negligence' by the contractors, Thanzanani Trading Enterprises.
The Star reports that so serious was the collapse that Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa braved the torrential rain that had flooded most parts of the city and rushed to the hospital.
Allegations are that maintenance workers were on the roof repairing leaks when it suddenly collapsed and infrastructure development MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the department would be taking action against the contractors because they believed that negligence was partly to blame. “There is an option to blacklist construction companies, because from what we can see, there might have been negligence here. And if there are options for a criminal lawsuit, then we will pursue those as well.”
Mamabolo added that the construction company, Thanzanani Trading Enterprises, were told to stop with all work and be removed from the site.
The report says the hospital’s infrastructure had been a point of contention, with a report released almost a year ago saying parts of the building were in need of urgent repairs. The DA’s Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said staff at the hospital had warned in the past of the leaking roofs and other structural problems in the building. “The entire hospital must be urgently assessed to ensure it is safe,” Bloom said. Last year, Bloom had said he was worried that the hospital building would collapse because of years of poor maintenance.
The report says this was in addition to a 2012 report on the state of the hospital that pointed out the building’s shortcomings. It cautioned about the X-ray department, saying it should be evacuated as it could collapse. The report also identified structural defects on the fifth floor of the building and recommended that urgent repairs costing R50m be carried out. However, Bloom said the province’s chief engineer, Tshepo Matekane, had said that was not necessary.
One of the hospital’s shop stewards said staff had been warning hospital management since October.
As rescue workers continued their efforts to free two people still trapped under a collapsed foyer‚ The Times reports a doctor there has explained what he thought had led to the collapse. The doctor‚ who asked not to be named‚ had left before the incident‚ but went back to help colleagues immediately afterwards.
He is quoted in the report as saying: "This is an isolated incident. Waterproofing has been taking place on the roof. The collapse has happened because of stupidity. The old waterproofing was gravel on a roof that was a few metres thick before the collapse. Now they have been redoing the roof‚ they have moved all the gravel to one side. That gravel which normally covers 100 square metres has been piled onto one small side of the roof." The doctor said the recent rain compounding the gravel situation was probably why the roof collapsed.
A civil engineer has also offered his views. The engineer‚ who also asked to be anonymous said that at first glance‚ the site did not seem safe to work on. He was commenting after seeing pictures from the scene.
The reports says the Gauteng Department of Health has confirmed that seven people were injured, including two construction workers‚ members of the public and at least one hospital staff member. "The incident happened while private construction workers were filling in a leaking section of the roof," the department said in a statement.
The department said: “We want to assure the public that we share their concerns in terms of patient safety‚ while confirming that the incident is confined to the main entrance of the hospital‚ so patients are not affected.”
[link url="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/contractors-blamed-for-charlotte-maxeke-roof-collapse-8020193"]The Star report[/link]
[link url="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2017/03/02/Stupidity-the-reason-for-Charlotte-Maxeke-hospital-collapse%E2%80%9A-says-doctor"]The Times report[/link]