Soweto’s Bheki Mlangeni Hospital has not yet implemented some of the recommendations made in a report compiled after an investigation in 2020. Among other things, an operating theatre has been broken for three months, with the DA’s Jack Bloom calling this a “symptom of a far larger problem at the troubled hospital”.
The 2020 report followed the murder of an elderly man by a psychiatric patient, while another was fatally stabbed, and there have been numerous incidents of assault and damage to property by patients, reports TimesLIVE. By October 2020, there had been 11 violent incidents at the institution since the start of that year.
According to a written reply by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi to questions in the Gauteng legislature, the Open Water company has completed its investigation of the hospital but “due to internal capacity restraints, (the hospital) is still … engaging the Premier’s office to assist with the implementation of some of the recommendations…”.
DA Gauteng shadow health MEC Bloom said the delay was “inexcusable”.
“The investigation into these matters has dragged on and on. How can it be that an operating theatre is not fixed speedily?” He said the DA would continue to push for the public release of the Open Water investigation, “and speedy implementation of its recommendations to fix the hospital”.
TimesLIVE article – Soweto hospital yet to implement directives issued after probe (Open access)
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