Officials say they discovered that government built a clinic in Tjakastad but is under-utilised and can now become a hospital.
The Mpumalanga health department is considering moving the Standerton TB hospital to the area of Tjakastad, near Badplaas, in the coming financial year.
This follows health MEC Gillion Mashego’s discovery that the hospital in the area was dilapidating and that interventions were needed to avert the health hazards that the hospital’s poor state is causing.
Owners of the Standerton building from whom government is renting the TB hospital at R1.2 million every year are not renovating it and recommendations by department officials have been made for government to cut ties with them and relocate the hospital as they are in breach of national health standards.
Officials said if the Standerton building was owned by government they were going to renovate it but not when they do not own it.
Now Mashego wants this hospital moved to the Tjakastad area in order for the clinic of the area to serve as the new TB hospital.
The department says the Tjakastad clinic is well-built on government land and few revamps will be needed – for around R9 million – to enable it to be a fully-fledged hospital.
(edited by ZK)
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