Durban - REPAIRS to King Edward VIII Hospital cost the Health Department R169 million - R114m more than was budgeted for, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said yesterday.
She said repairing the hospital’s theatre equipment cost R58.6 million and rebuilding the theatres and surgical units cost R110m.
On October 10, 2017, parts of Durban and many outlying areas were hit by ferocious storms that destroyed infrastructure, including 13 health centres. King Edward was one of 10 hospitals that its main theatre complex, intensive care unit, high care wards, medical outpatients department and other areas damaged.
The 2017 estimate by the Provincial Infrastructure Disaster Response Teams and the Minister of Health was that it would cost R25m to repair.
Dr Musa Gumede, acting head of the Department at Health, said: “The figure of R25 million was announced shortly after the storm, and was a preliminary estimate of the cost purely for repairs to the roof.
However, the damage was far more extensive than initially thought. The breakage of asbestos had caused damage to mechanical, electrical, medical and other equipment, severely compromising the functioning of various essential services in the hospital.”
He said as a result of the repair work, several sections of the 83-year-old hospital which were previously not compliant with national standards had undergone much-needed upgrades and were now compliant.