Katlehong residents, including a medical professor, a medical practitioner and a judge, have thrown in their lot in support of the initiative by the Natalspruit Hospital Concerned Residents Committee (NHCR) to have the hospital relocated back to its place of origin – where it was uprooted about ten years ago.
Among the professionals who support the return of the health facility to its original location include Professor Elias Ndobe, Dr Sibusiso Mbambela, Dr Tshepo Maebane, Judge Motsamai Makume and radio and media personality, Stan Bodibe.
Maebane, at the launch of this “return of Natalspruit Hospital to its original place project”, said it was imperative that the Natalspruit hospital be rebuilt at its original ground, and returned to the people.
This, he said, was the people’s hospital and it was a great injustice to the locals that it had been relocated to Vosloorus.
“The action to relocate the hospital and uproot it from its original place to Vosloorus, was to neglect the poor communities of Katlehong and Thokoza,” Maebane said.
The hospital was demolished nearly ten years ago in 2014 following the decision by the Gauteng department of health to have it relocated to Vosloorus, and later renamed Thele Mogoerane District Hospital.
The geological assessment commissioned by the department found the ground on which it was built had sinkholes and, therefore, compromised the safety of patients and the hospital staff.
“The assessment indicated that the depth of the sinkholes could not be determined or managed, and this posed a risk to the hospital community and the public for which no solution could be found except to relocate the facility in the interest of the public safety,” Alfred Nhlapo, director: external communications, said this week.
However, the leadership of the NHCR, represented by its chairperson, Kenneth Nkwanyana, argued that no meaningful consultation with the community had taken place.
Said Nkwanyana: “Businesses and transport operators lost 60% of their revenue.
The new hospital is too small to cater for the growing population of Katlehong and Thokoza, as a result, the patients are subjected to sleeping on the floor or stretchers,” he said.
He said public transport to the new hospital in Vosloorus, which is 10km away from both Thokoza and Katlehong, was not easily reachable, and that often patients died on their way to the hospital “because navigating the road to the new hospital is a nightmare”.
Regarding the geotechnical study, Nkwanyana said the department misinterpreted its findings, which did not recommend the relocation but rather that “remedial measures be implemented and not for the demolition”.
Nkwanyana said the committee had commissioned its own independent geological experts to assess the land on which the hospital was built.
“Having been given the opportunity to be employed elsewhere, I opted for Katlehong because it lacked the necessary medical personnel to alleviate the dire crisis that is pervasive in our township.”
However, Nhlapo contradicted the committee’s assertion there was no consultation, claiming “community consultation had taken place”, and that “members of underlying communities around the old hospital, including policing forums, were also involved”.
