The Gauteng infrastructure development department is refocusing its attention on the maintenance of its existing infrastructure, starting with the province’s 33 public hospitals.
Infrastructure development MEC Jacob Mamabolo said active maintenance was needed if the department were to increase the life of buildings owned by the province.
"We have never struck a proper balance between doing maintenance and delivering infrastructure … and everyday without maintaining infrastructure it decays and become more costly and expensive [to repair]," he said.
Mamabolo’s department has done baseline assessments of the conditions of facilities owned by the provincial government.
Hospitals were the first to undergo an extensive review under the proposed new approach.
Of the 33 hospitals in the province all but two were ranked at level two in the baseline assessment, meaning that the hospitals were below the acceptable standard.
The assessment levels are as follows:
Level 1: Very bad — the building needs replacement.
Level 2: Bad — the building needs rehabilitation.
Level 3: Fair — the building needs repairs.
Level 4: Good — the building needs condition-based maintenance.
Level 5: Very good — the building needs Preventative maintenance.
An initial report showed that it would cost R13bn to bring all the hospitals in the province to level 5.
"We don’t have R13bn to raise all facilities to this level so what we have agreed upon is that we will make sure that in the Gauteng provincial government no facility is below level 3 in the next three years," said Mamabolo.
He said the department was still working out the cost of bringing the hospitals to level 3 and would have the total cost by the end of November.
"What we are dealing with is a recognition that we need a complete turnaround on how me manage and deliver infrastructure, and the major turnaround is to close the gap between roll-out of new infrastructure and maintenance. We started with health but actually this programme is across the board," he said.
Jack Bloom, the DA health spokesman and a member of the Gauteng provincial legislature, said hospitals in the province were in desperate need of improvements.
If the province had plans in place it could get extra funding from Treasury, said Bloom, adding that Gauteng had lacked good assessments and good planning, and there were problems at every level of the system.
"If we can get it up to an acceptable standard — level three — in three years, it will be quite an achievement … but Treasury wants plans, they are not just going to give money because we have unspent money.
"So it’s good news. If they have the plans and if they get decent contractors that can do the job, which hasn’t been the case in the past, then it’s good news because I think it is doable."
He said hospitals in the province also needed to be expanded to deal with the strain on the facilities.
There were a number of hospitals that were candidates for possible expansion but this did not mean there was no need for new hospitals.
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