Health Minister Joe Phaahla says on the Parliamentary Monitoring Group’s (PMG) website, that the completion of the embattled hospital is set to take 14 months. Phaahla, who was responding to a question posed by the Freedom Front Plus’ Philippus Adriaan van Staden, says the contractor who was appointed to expand the facility, “terminated” his agreement with the hospital whilst the project was 40% completed. It is unknown what the reason behind the termination is or when it occurred precisely. Not only is the incomplete project exacerbating a shortage of beds at the facility, a shortage of operating theatres are also reported.

There are currently only four theatre beds being shared between the surgical and maternity wards. The latter’s theatre forms part of the unfinished maternity ward, hence the sharing taking place.

In December 2021, Pelonomi staff, including nursing staff, cleaners, porters and security personnel, downed tools over what they deemed to be unsafe working conditions. Central to their list of complaints was the aforementioned maternity ward.

READ MORE: Pelonomi bed shortages blamed on unfinished maternity ward

The Mangaung branch of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) that was leading the strike, told OFM News that the maternity ward in the hospital has been under construction for a decade and the union’s Thabo Nkomo, was warning that it was becoming increasingly dangerous for staff as criminals hide behind the debris and unfinished construction.

Nkomo mentioned two incidents in which medical doctors were attacked on the hospital premises. In June 2019, a female doctor at Pelenomi Hospital in Bloemfontein bit off a man’s tongue as he attempted to rape her while she was sleeping in one of the overnight staff quarters. The man was later apprehended and declared a state patient by the courts. Almost a decade prior to that, a female doctor specialising in paediatrics was raped by a group of assailants. As stated by Nkomo, she was reportedly heading to the neo-natal unit, where construction partitions remain up to this day.

The strike led to the provincial department demoting the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Baesi Ramodula, and moving her to a different post within the department.

OFM News