KZN stops funding hospital after running out of cash

KwaZulu-Natal would no longer fund Pongola Hospital in the Zululand district, the provincial health department said on Tuesday.

The state-funded hospital's application for money was turned down this year because the department's coffers were empty, spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi said.

It had funded the hospital for the past 40 years.

Democratic Alliance health spokeswoman Makhosazana Mdlalose criticised the department's decision. She said a vital health service would be lost to the communities of Pongola, Mpumalanga and Swaziland, which the hospital serviced.

Mdlalose called on the department to reverse its decision.