A video has gone viral on social media, illustrating a disregard for publicly-funded property at a Johannesburg hospital.

The man who took the footage was visiting his son at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, when he came across an estimated 3 000 hospital beds exposed to the sun and rain roughly two kilometres from the hospital.

According to the man filming it, he only stumbled across the beds because he couldn’t find parking at the hospital itself.

Some of the beds are hi-tech motorised units that the man shooting the footage calls “good theatre beds”, reports The Citizen.

Check it out:

Various politicians have weighed in on the issue, including the DA’s shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom.

“Many of them look in good condition, but will deteriorate rapidly in unsheltered conditions.”

“This is a clear waste of state assets as these beds should be put to good use instead of rusting outside. There are hospitals that are short of beds where they could be used or they could be donated to non-profit institutions.”

He slammed Gauteng premier David Makhura for still promising to fix healthcare at the ANC’s election rally while admitting it was a “serious weakness”.

Not a good look, and a serious waste of public resources.

Given the state of some of our public hospitals, we can ill afford to squander money like this.

[source:citizen]