A R3.9m project to refurbish the primary health care facility at Laetitia Bam Day Hospital in KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage, the biggest local clinic in the area, ground to a halt at the end of January. Groundup reports that hundreds of patients are now being treated in about a dozen small wooden cubicles.
Refurbishment started in November under a tender won by Ikhono Projects. It was meant to take three months. Four small businesses based in ward 44 are subcontractors, doing painting and plastering and installing security gates, new blinds, doors, and a ceiling. But Ikhono Projects and the businesses say they have not been paid by the Eastern Cape Health since the project started.
Eastern Cape Health spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo said: “Not a single company has been paid by the department because there is no more money. We will share facts about this with National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) because it is wrong to threaten the department with tools down”. He said the project would continue in April, in the next financial year.
“We cannot wait for April,” said shop steward chair at the hospital, Lindile Cakwebe, of Nehawu, whose members include nurses, clerks, porters, ambulance drivers and cleaners. “We have told hospital management and the clinic committee to put on record that as Nehawu, we are not going to wait for April … It’s either we are going to stop working or they do whatever they can to ensure that we are all safe and the patients are safe too,” said Cakwebe.
[link url="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/patients-complain-about-shacks-hospital-uitenhage/"]Full Groundup report[/link]