Gift of the Givers hands over R60m medical stores at Charlotte Maxeke
Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers on Thursday handed over the newly constructed, state-of-the-art, medical stores at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital.
Two years ago, a fire broke out at the stores before spreading to other parts of the hospital. This resulted in the emergency evacuation of more than 800 patients to 17 other health facilities across the province.
Repair work and ensuring compliance with fire safety standards have been marred by challenges that delay.
However, hospital services have been restored.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said after deciding they could no longer wait for donor funding, the organisation dug into its reserves to fund the R60 million project.
He said some organisations have come forward and pledged to assist.
“There are no donors at the moment. We couldn’t wait for donors, so we took our reserve funds and we paid for it. But we were engaging donors who said they understand the concept and there are pledges that will come after the project. This is different to what we normally do, but we couldn’t wait because this thing was already dragging on for too long.”
The newly built facility has been equipped with biometric security systems with the bulk of the budget going to installing fire-improved systems, including two 450 kilolitres water tanks that feed the sprinkler system inside the stores.
WATCH: Earlier the project teams explained the function of the two 450kl water tanks that were installed as part of the fire prevention measures at the new #CharlotteMaxekeHospital medical stores. The tanks feed the sprinkler system which allows for up to 2hours until EMS arrives pic.twitter.com/axayaxjHnL
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) May 18, 2023
Health Minister Joe Phaahla has thanked Sooliman and his team for their continued support of the government.
READ: Gauteng Health ‘yet to receive’ report on Charlotte Maxeke fire
At the same time, Nathi Mahlangu from the Development Bank of Southern Africa – which was appointed project implementing agency – said they expect to have appointed a contractor by June this year.
The remedial work on other portions of the facility that were affected by the fire will run concurrently with the project of ensuring compliance with occupational health and safety regulations.
“We are in the middle of evaluations which will be concluded expeditiously so we’re looking at the middle of June in appointing the team for both packages. We’re looking at around November this year,” said Mahlangu.
“The one that will take longer is facility-wide compliance. You would appreciate that we are working within a live hospital, and we won’t be able to completely vacate certain portions. We are estimating about 36 months to complete that portion of the project.”
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