Red tape in Bhisho still holds up health project

Six years and court rulings fail to move bureaucracy

ANEW private hospital planned for Fairview in Port Elizabeth is expected to boost temporary employment during the construction phase, be a major financial investment for the city and provide high-quality healthcare.

But construction on the Circular Drive hospital has been delayed due to red tape and indecision by the Eastern Cape Health Department.

Upon completion, the 120-bed hospital is expected to have a number of specialised units (see graphic on right).

Last month Kirkland Investments won a hard-fought battle with the Health Department over the validity of a licence.

Dr Andries Marais, who heads the consortium of doctors behind the hospital, said they were very excited with the majority judgment of the Constitutional Court.

But, although the ruling was made a month ago, the department remains undecided about what to do.

Spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said lawyers were still studying the judgment and the department would decide how to proceed as and when they received an opinion from their legal team.

The justices of the Constitutional Court called for an explanation for the delays.

And Justice Edwin Cameron said the only legal option for the department, should they wish to fight the establishment of the hospital, was to apply to the High Court for a review of the decision to grant the licence.

There are prescribed timeframes in which to do this and the department would have to ask for special permission as its officials are years too late to bring such an application.

Kirkland Investments applied to the department in July 2006 for permission to build and open two hospitals, one in Port Elizabeth and one in Jeffreys Bay.

The province’s superintendent-general, Lawrence Boya, rejected the applications on the basis that Port Elizabeth was already over-serviced by private hospitals. Boya asked the committee on licensing of private hospitals to let Kirkland Investments know, but this was never done.

In the same month, Boya was admitted to hospital following an accident, acting superintendentgeneral Dr Nandi Diliza was appointed and she approved the application and notified Kirkland of her decision.

Diliza told the court she had received direct instructions from then-health MEC Nomsa Jajula to approve the applications.

At the Supreme Court of Ap- peal (SCA), Diliza said she had been under pressure to approve the applications by Jajula, who in turn claimed she was under pressure from the ANC.

Boya, when he returned from sick leave, overturned the decision by Diliza.

He said he had acted on legal advice but the court found that he did not have the power to overturn the decision and had to approach the High Court instead. This was never done.

Kupelo said while the department had not decided how to proceed, “the department’s view is that the decision of the court will be respected and when the full interpretation of the judgment is done, the department will act in the best interest of the people of the Eastern Cape.” Kupelo was not in a position to state how long this would take.

Meanwhile, Marais said: “We have submitted the hospital building plans to the Department of Health and are waiting for their approval.

“We are in a position to commence with construction within three months as all municipal approvals have been obtained and complied with, specifically electrical substations and Circular Drive roadworks.”