Pretoria - The Charlotte Maxeke Hospital will get new lifts to replace the old and outdated lifts in Blocks 1 and 2.
Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development, Bheki Nkosi, on Wednesday said the lifts would be replaced by the end of this financial year.
The hospital has five blocks, and each block has a set of four lifts. All eight lifts at Blocks 1 and 2 are currently not functioning and are on schedule for replacement.
"Of the eight lifts in Block 1 and 2, five are totally irreparable and three have been problematic such that they function and stop functioning abruptly. These lifts are beyond 35 years of age with outdated technology and makes maintenance difficult as spares cannot be found," Nkosi said.
He said the department had managed to modernise one of the lifts in the affected two blocks and has been working until it broke down recently due to overuse as it served as a patients and visitors' lift as well as a goods lifts carrying food, linen, stock deliveries and waste.
"In the meantime, the department has commissioned the repairs on the one that has been working in Blocks 1 and 2 and parallel to this, we have already received quotations for the modernisation of another lift so that we have two working (lifts) in Blocks 1 and 2. This will ease pressure on the only one that has been operating," Nkosi said.
The replacement of the lift is in line with the implementation of Project 274, which the department has embarked on to replace old and deteriorating electro-mechanical equipment at various health institutions across Gauteng.
Project 274 includes the replacement and refurbishment of boilers, lifts, laundries, chillers, autoclaves, electrical reticulation and changeover switches of generators which have long exceeded their life span.
The department allocated R57 million for construction and R296 million for maintenance in the 2012/13 financial year.
The hospital's lifts in Blocks 3, 4 and 5 are reported to be functional because they are new sets of lifts installed as part of phase one of the lifts replacement programme and are being maintained by Koyo Elevators.
Nkosi said the process of awarding the tender for the new lifts will be concluded shortly.
