Maintenance backlog at Tygerberg is so vast that the hospital needs to be replaced entirely
We have spent R700m on maintenance at the hospital in recent years and you cannot see it, Western Cape health official Beth Engelbrecht says
The Western Cape’s biggest hospital is buckling under the demand for its services and is so dilapidated that it needs to be replaced, Parliament heard on Wednesday. Tygerberg Hospital is an academic hospital in northern Cape Town, and serves patients referred by less-specialised facilities. It was built in 1978 and has such an extensive maintenance backlog it would cost more to fix it than replace it, the Western Cape head of health Beth Engelbrecht told Parliament’s portfolio committee on health. "Tygerberg Hospital is under severe pressure. The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) assessed it and said the hospital must be replaced. We have spent R700m on maintenance in recent years and you walk through the hospital and you can’t see it — it is sewerage lines, gas lines and water lines," she said. It would cost an estimated R10bn to replace the tertiary services component of Tygerberg Hospital alone, said Engelbrecht. "We are motivating with the national department...
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