The Gauteng health department has spent R600 million on constructing a forensic pathology building that would be the largest of its kind in the province. The construction of the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology building, adjacent to the Helen Joseph Hospital, started on 3 November 2016 and was supposed to be completed in 2019. But the building was ditched, mid-construction, in 2017 because the contractors weren’t paid.
According to the provincial health department’s presentation to the Health Portfolio Committee in February, completion was planned for the beginning of March, but that has not happened. Instead, another R235 million is needed to complete the building, already over the budgeted R588 million. A senior official in the department, who asked to remain anonymous, tells Health-e News that there’s simply no money to finish the building in this financial year.
Gauteng has a problem with abandoned infrastructure projects. The DA’s Gauteng Health spokesperson, Jack Bloom, says the issue of unfinished buildings is a symptom of a deeper problem rooted in massive financial mismanagement and corruption.
“This is wasted money that could have been used for service delivery. For example, the new forensic building could have been completed years ago,” he says
New forensic pathology facility sorely needed
Gauteng is in desperate need of a new forensic pathology facility.
South Africa’s most populous province only has 11 forensic mortuaries, which handle all cases of unnatural and unexplained deaths and also perform post-mortem examinations (autopsies) to determine the cause of death and assist in identifying deceased persons, particularly those who are unidentified. These facilities are old and have not kept up with population growth.
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Some of the country’s busiest morgues are overcrowded with old and broken equipment. The results are delays in finalising post-mortems.
“Without the four laboratories [that were going to be] housed in the new forensic pathology building, delays in the finalisation of post-mortem reports will affect bereaved families, particularly in the division of the estate,” the anonymous official tells Health-e News.
The new building would have alleviated pressure from facilities such as Diepkloof and Roodepoort by taking on specialised cases.
“Some of these facilities cannot be equipped with high-tech equipment, such as X-rays or Lodox machines, due to a lack of space. Bodies admitted to facilities like Bronkhorstspruit and Carletonville are being transported to Johannesburg, or even Pretoria, for examination. This poses a significant risk of further exposure to road accidents or early decomposition during transit,” the official explains.
The official adds that this practice already impacts the turnaround time from the admission of the body to examination and, ultimately, the release of the body to families for burial. This process is meant to take 72 hours. But it can take weeks to release a body to the family.
“Some families have lost their homes because of outstanding post-mortem reports.”
The new forensic building is meant to accommodate 800 bodies, compared to the Hillbrow Forensic Pathology Services, which can store just over 200. The pathologists working in overcrowded facilities are also at risk.
“These workers are continually exposed to health hazards, as they occupy an old, dilapidated building in Hillbrow with dysfunctional health technology and inadequate body storage.”
Passing the buck
Provincial health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba tells Health-e News that his department is not in a position to respond to questions about the incomplete and abandoned health facilities because the projects are implemented by the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID).
GDID spokesperson, Victor Moreriane, tells Health-e News that they receive the mandate to build or refurbish health buildings from the provincial health department. However, he clarifies that it is not their responsibility to pay the contractors.
Professor Daniel Meyer, from the School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy at the University of Johannesburg, explains that, ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Gauteng Department of Health to pay the contractors.
“GDID is responsible for starting the construction or refurbishment after consulting with the Gauteng Department of Health. GDID then appoints service providers and oversees the completion of the project,” he says.
Once the project is completed, GDID sends invoices to the provincial health department for payment. If the department is satisfied with the construction and the quality of the work, it then releases the payments. – Health-e News
