Mkhwebane warns of ‘wasteful’ Covid-19 construction at Gauteng hospitals
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has expressed concern about the length of time its taking to build Covid-19 structures – believing that it’s taking way too long.
Mkhwebane visited several health facilities in Gauteng on Tuesday, including Jubilee District Hospital in Hammanskraal and Dr George Mukhari Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa.
Mkhwebane said the assumption was that that local government would have used the lockdown period to finish building the structures.
Also of concern is the fact that officials at the hospital were not part of need assessments conducted by the Health Department.
"They said the money should have been utilised to build additional wards for the hospital not this kind of (Covid-19) structure.
"You would find out that after Covid-19 this would not be utilised and it is a problem because it would have an element of wasteful expenditure.”
Mkhwebane vowed to engage the Department of Health to establish why Covid-19 structures are still being built, even though number of infections are decreasing.
Listen to Mkhwebane below: