The Eastern Cape government’s plan to use some of the Buffalo City metro’s R340 million housing budget to build a 1 000-bed field hospital in East London has been shot down by National Treasury.
“With regards to the utilisation of the USDG allocation on the construction of field hospitals, the request was made to the national Department of Human Settlements which administers the grant. The department, with the concurrence of National Treasury, declined the request because funding for hospitals is not the function of the City.”
“Funding it through USDG would be inconsistent with the purpose of the grant and would therefore mean shifting funds from priority housing and informal settlement projects for which this funding is allocated.” “The need for a field hospital was informed by the number of infections that are experienced by the City and the fact that the current health facilities are expected to be overwhelmed towards and during the peak of the pandemic.“It was also informed by the escalating rate of Covid-19 infections in the high-density area of Duncan Village, where people do not have space for self-isolation.