Health infrastructure in Bay gets R407m maintenance injection

Nelson Mandela Bay has been allocated R407-million of a R4.2-billion conditional infrastructure grant for the renovation and completion of health infrastructure projects.

The replacement of lifts at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone and Provincial hospitals and new water tanks have been marked as priority projects.

Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said yesterday that the allocation, earmarked to be spent over the next three years, would fund the following projects:

• The replacement of faulty lifts at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone and Provincial hospitals.
• Establishing an acute psychiatric unit at Port Elizabeth’s Provincial Hospital where psychiatric patients can be safely admitted for 72-hour observation periods. The unit was earmarked for establishment after a number of deaths and incidents at Livingstone Hospital’s accident and emergency unit involving psychiatric patients. The unit is planned for the P-block at Port Elizabeth’s Provincial Hospital.
• Repairs and maintenance to Elizabeth Donkin Hospital in Forest Hill.
• The replacement of water tanks at Livingstone Hospital and the Uitenhage Provincial Hospital.
• The completion of a state-of-the-art emergency medical services base for ambulances and the EMS helicopter at Dora Nginza Hospital. The service is currently housed in Lindsay Street in Korsten. The building will also house an EMS Training College.
• Repairs and renovations of clinics at Gqebera, the Motherwell Community Health Centre and the Laeticia Bam Community Health Centre.
• Repairs and renovations of various clinics.
• Scheduled maintenance of equipment and machinery such as generators, autoclaves, lifts, air-conditioning units, laundries, kitchens and mortuaries.
• Erecting fencing and guardhouses at various clinics.

Kupelo said repairs and renovations had also been scheduled for Dora Nginza Hospital, including the completion of the new accident and emergency unit, renovating the maternity unit and the surgical theatres, fixing plumbing and broken windows and glazing some windows.