Staff
and patients at Radie Kotze hospital will be evacuated from the facility with
immediate effect due to serious concerns regarding the state of the roof of the
main building, the Western Cape Government Health said in a statement on Tuesday (12 October).
The directorate for Facilities and Infrastructure Management of
Western Cape Government Health advised the hospital’s management to prepare for
urgent evacuation, following a recent inspection by engineers and architects of
the directorate. The inspection was part of a routine inspection for a planned renovation
and refreshment project of the hospital upon which the poor state of the roof’s
structure was detected.
The
West Coast district management team was notified of the potential danger posed
by the current structure and will be evacuating the affected areas accordingly.
This includes the emergency centre of the facility and arrangements will be
made to accommodate emergency care in a safe part of the facility as soon as
possible.
Residents
of Bergrivier sub-district in need of emergency care can still go to the
hospital for assistance. The emergency centre has been moved to the old theatre
complex of the hospital and the new temporary entrance of the hospital is
currently located on the north side (the back) of the facility.
Patients
who can be accommodated elsewhere in the hospital have already been moved to
other wards. A small number of patients cannot be moved to other wards in the
facility at the moment and will be transferred urgently to neighbouring
facilities, including LAPA Munnik Hospital in Porterville, Vredenburg Hospital,
Citrusdal Hospital and Swartland Hospital in Malmesbury. The hospital
management is receiving assistance from West Coast EMS in this regard to
arrange for transport for patients to other facilities. Families of patients
will be informed telephonically of the hospital patients will be transferred
to. Any enquiries regarding patient transfers can be referred to the hospital
at 022 913 1175
“The
extent and restoration of the damaged roof will be assessed once evacuation is
complete and depending on the severity of the issue, a timeframe for safe
return to the hospital building will be determined and communicated soon.
“We
apologise for the inconvenience caused by the evacuation. We assure all staff
and patients that this is a necessary precaution to ensure the safety of all
staff, patients and visitors to the facility,” the Department relayed.
