Kamogelo Olaitan
The fire that ravaged Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital on 16 April 2021 was arson and not an accident.
This is according to a police forensic report which rules out an accident as the cause of the fire.
The Daily Maverick reported that the fire started in the personal protective equipment storage room in the basement parkade.
Several discrepancies were noted in the forensic report, with statements from the hospital only taken six months after the fire.
An initial request for a forensic fire investigation was made by the investigating officer from Hillbrow SAPS and a senior forensic fire investigator, Captain Pravisha Ramsundar.
Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said they have not seen the forensic report “and as such the department is not in a position to comment on it”.
The hospital was closed for months following the fire, with parts of it opening earlier this year.
It had no casualty wards and trauma facilities for months, with patients referred to other hospitals.
In July Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi in her reply to the provincial legislature said there were more than 2,000 patients currently on the waiting list for surgeries at the hospital.
She said the backlog was caused by the cancellation of operations in 2021 due to the fire.
Mokgethi said paediatric surgeries were the most affected, with 610 cancelled operations, and there were about 453 child patients who had to wait between six months and two years to be operated on.
The Department of Health had said in May that the hospital, which is currently under repairs, will be fully restored by the end of 2023.
The department estimated the cost of fixing the hospital to be around R1.1 billion.
Image source: @SowetanLIVE
