Before the end of the fiscal year next week, the Eastern Cape health department plans to issue nearly R200m in tenders for the construction of two community healthcare centres in the province.
The projects include the construction of the first healthcare centre in the Joe Gqabi district, intended to reduce hospital overcrowding.
Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa said it would be built in the region’s Elundini municipality.
The primary public healthcare facilities serving the municipality are Maclear Hospital in Nqanqarhu and Tayler Bequest Hospital in Tlokoeng.
“In Joe Gqabi there is no healthcare centre. We are prioritising Joe Gqabi to have at least one centre and we have identified Elundini because of the population.”
Capa said the construction of the Elundini centre had been prioritised in the current financial year, and the budget to complete the planning stages had been put aside to accelerate the project to tender documentation stage.
The entire project was estimated to cost R60m and projected to be advertised in the first quarter of the next financial year.
Capa was speaking at the provincial legislature at the Raymond Mhlaba Chambers in Bhisho on Wednesday, while tabling her department’s policy speech for the upcoming financial year.
She also revealed that the construction of the Indwe healthcare centre in the Chris Hani district, would be advertised in the same period.
The cost of that project was an estimated R120m, including staff accommodation, an EMS base and other critical support services.
Capa said the procurement of the contractor was expected to begin in the second quarter of the 2026/2027 financial year.
In March 2025, Indwe residents submitted a petition to the department demanding that Indwe Hospital remain a fully functioning facility rather than being downgraded to a community health centre.
Addressing the community that year, Capa told the residents the government had embarked on a programme to repurpose facilities, but that nothing had been finalised and her office would still consult the community.
However, the department is forging ahead with the plans to convert the hospital into a community healthcare centre as part of this drive.
“We are building a health system that meets the needs of our people, where they are,” she said in her policy speech.
“To address infrastructure backlogs and improve delivery speed, the department is engaging development finance and other state-owned institutions, such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation, to assist with the implementation of our infrastructure projects.
“We also want to explore possible areas of collaboration with respect to alternative funding sources and public-private partnerships, as guided by the relevant regulatory prescripts.”
Referring to the plans for the Elundini centre, DA MPL Jane Cowley said if this did indeed happen before April 1, she would be very pleased as Joe Gqabi had been “woefully neglected” over the years.
“It is also the only district which has had no ICU beds or facilities for several years.
“On top of that, the Lady Grey Hospital upgrade has been extremely poorly managed from the outset, which leaves residents frustrated and sceptical.”
Cowley said the conversion of Indwe Hospital into a healthcare centre was being poorly orchestrated and only partially implemented, leaving several rural communities confused and without the necessary information as to the plans for their healthcare facilities.
“Indwe Hospital is housed in a very old and non-compliant building and the community deserves better.
“I sincerely hope the department fulfils its commitment to advertise the project this year.
“In theory, community healthcare centres are 24-hour facilities with doctors on duty at all times.
“Currently, the Indwe Hospital is so short-staffed that patients often have to be transported to Frontier to be attended to.
“The staff are incredibly dedicated, but it is humanly impossible to cover all bases when so critically short of medical staff.
“My eternal fear is that the department commits to building a new facility — whether a district hospital or a healthcare centre, only to continue their current practice of not filling posts, which will not enhance primary healthcare services at these new facilities at all.”
Urgent building repairs will be undertaken under the disaster management programme, with contractors expected to be on site in April 2026
Capa also said the department had prioritised revitalising the Bhisho and Grey hospitals as key central facilities.
At Bhisho Hospital, several projects in different phases of construction in 2025/2026 were due to be completed in the upcoming financial year.
These projects included upgrades to the hospital’s water and sanitation systems.
“Urgent building repairs will be undertaken under the disaster management programme, with contractors expected to be on site in April 2026.”
She said the upgrades were valued at R160m over the next three years.
At Grey Hospital, the department would implement targeted refurbishments, including fire-safety compliance, structural repairs and replacement of ageing infrastructure.
An amount of R2.9m had already been committed in the current financial year, with further upgrades valued at R70m planned under the revitalisation programme in the next three years.
Daily Dispatch
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