125-year-old Eastern Cape hospital in desperate need of renovations

This entrances to Greenville Hospital near Bizana in the Eastern Cape is in a terrible state. Photo: supplied

• The old Greenville Hospital near Bizana in the Eastern Cape is in desperate need of renovation.
• The buildings, put up by the Roman Catholic Church in 1900, are cracked and leaking.
• The department says there are plans to refurbish the hospital but it’s not clear when this will happen and how long it will take.

Paint peeling from dirty and cracked concrete walls, a leaking roof with broken stretchers and wheelchairs lining the passageway. This is what patients see when they enter Greenville Hospital near Bizana in the Eastern Cape.

The buildings were put up by the Roman Catholic Church in 1900 and 125 years later, little has been done to upgrade the hospital.

On Monday about 100 people marched to the hospital, complaining about the condition of the building and about staff shortages, and accusing some workers of being drunk on duty.

Resident Lindile Zulu believes there have been no renovations since the hospital was handed over by the missionaries.

“The conditions inside the wards are terrible. The walls are dirty, all the buildings have cracks, and the grass is not cut. The buildings used by staff are a disaster. You can see the roof is leaking. Our government does not care about us,” said Zulu.

He said over the years, there have been many visits by officials who promise to fix the hospital but nothing has come of these promises. Zulu said the hospital is struggling to manage the influx of patients from surrounding towns like Lusikisiki and Flagstaff.

Protesters marched to Greenville hospital on Monday. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Patient Nomakhosazana Ndovela, who was at Greenville Hospital on Monday for an X-ray, said she wished the government would listen. “We really need new buildings here,” she said.

In 2018, a contractor called Kontinental Engineering was contracted to work on the paving, roadways and parking.

Fezile Manyase, who was involved in the project, told GroundUp that the contractor had abandoned the site, without paying sub-contractors. He claimed that five sub-contractors, including his company, are owed close to R500,000 in total. He said last year officials from the departments of health and public works informed them that a contractor had been hired to rebuild the hospital. “They told us that before the year ended the contractor would be on site but that did not happen. We are in the dark… We want answers on what is happening at this hospital,” said Manyase.

Kontinental Engineering’s Dare Adediran said he could not respond to GroundUp’s questions because of an ongoing court battle with the government.

Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana said hospital management had met the protesters to discuss their concerns. He said the hospital buildings are to be renovated but referred further questions to the Department of Public Work and Infrastructure. But the provincial Public Works and Infrastructure spokesperson Vuyani Nkasayi referred us back to the health department.

Manana did not respond to questions about why the contractor had left the site, or about budgets or timelines for the renovations.

One of the entrances where ambulances bring patients into the hospital. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

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