Patients evacuated from Charlotte Maxeke as burst pipe causes flooding

A burst pipe on the roof level of Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital caused flooding and the evacuation of patients on Monday.

The Gauteng health department said the leak in block 5 was caused by a threaded joint dislodging on Monday morning.

Ventilated patients were moved out of the trauma ICU as electricity was at risk in the main ICU, where Covid-19 patients are managed, said department spokesperson Kwara Kekana.

She said clinical areas in block 5 were the most affected by the flooding.

“Patients were moved to other wards. The water was drained yesterday and the hospital has been functioning,” Kekana said.

EWN reported that Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital CEO Dr Nkele Lesia said with Charlotte Maxeke not operational, things were likely to become difficult at his facility as Covid-19 cases increased.

Jack Bloom, the DA’s shadow health MEC in Gauteng, described the flooding as “tragic”, especially as the province enters the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections. 

Bloom said higher priority needs to be given to maintenance at the hospital, otherwise more machine and building failures would occur, endangering the lives of patients.

He said Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, in an oral reply to questions at a sitting of the Gauteng legislature, revealed that a positron emission tomography (PET) scan machine used for diagnosing cancer patients at Charlotte Maxeke had been out of action for more than three weeks because of broken air-conditioning which causes it to overheat.

“According to Mokgethi, 120 to 150 cancer patients have been adversely affected by the lack of PET scans at the hospital. The air-conditioning unit has been overhauled and was due to be calibrated yesterday, but this could not be done because of flooding.

“It is most distressing that cancer patients face further delays in treatment because of poor maintenance,” said Bloom.

The department said repair of the PET machine was receiving urgent attention.

“We had hoped to have the machine back online today, and invite patients back for the service, but due to the burst water pipe that has not been the case. We have engaged the concerned patients. We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience. We can assure them the matter is receiving urgent attention,” said Mokgethi.

She said there was a process under way to procure another PET machine for the hospital to reduce reliance on one machine.

The department said there will also be a dedicated catch-up session for affected patients.

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