Johannesburg - DA health spokesperson Jack Bloom has decried the lack of parking at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, which he said has regressed since the fire in 2021.
Bloom said that in spite of the progress being made to get the hospital up and running again, progress was slow in resolving the shortage of at least 1000 parking spaces.
He said the information was revealed to him in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, through awritten reply by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko.
Before the fire 18 months ago, the hospital had 1 700 on-site parking bays. Now it had only 229 in the hospital and 400 nearby.
“This means there are 1 071 fewer parking bays than previously," Bloom said.
He said the hospital had sought alternative parking. Parking was also provided at the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital (140 bays), the Johannesburg College (120), the hospital residence (80) and the Wits Web Help Building (60).
“I have proposed that the hospital use the parking at the province-owned Emoyeni Conference Centre which is opposite the hospital. Nkomo-Ralehoko says that the hospital requested parking at Emoyeni from the Department of Infrastructure Development in October 2021, but was informed that the parking bays are not accessible as it was privately leased," he said.
Bloom said the department of health was negotiating with various stakeholders to use their parking spaces in the interim.
These include approaching the department of land affairs to negotiate a deal with the Emoyeni Conference Centre, as well as with Wits University and KPMG.
Confusingly, the MEC had said her department “will approach the Department of Land Affairs, through the National Department of Health, to negotiate the use of parking at Emoyeni”.
“An extra 300 rebuilt parking bays are supposed to be available on 6 November this year, and the hospital has approached Wits University and KPMG for more off-site parking, using shuttle services.”
Bloom said staff and visitors were affected by the parking shortage.
“Hundreds of staff and patients are frustrated every day as they hunt for parking and walk long distances to get to the hospital. It shows the poor leadership of CMJH CEO Gladys Bogoshi who should have pushed far earlier for solutions to alleviate this parking crisis," he said.
Gauteng Health spokesperson Motaletale Modiba said the MEC had given the assurance that all areas of the hospital would be accessible by December 2023.
"The MEC gave assurance this week when replying to legislature questions on when the repair work at the facility would be completed," Modiba said.
The Star