Weapons and ammunition found in unoccupied section of Bara hospital

20 September 2020 - 17:04 By belinda pheto
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Police are investigating after an assortment of weapons and ammunition was found early on Sunday, in the unoccupied doctors' quarters of Baragwanath hospital in Soweto.
Police are investigating after an assortment of weapons and ammunition was found early on Sunday, in the unoccupied doctors' quarters of Baragwanath hospital in Soweto.
Image: Gauteng health department

An assortment of weapons was found in one of the unoccupied doctors' quarters at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in the early hours of Sunday.

The health department said it consisted of 47 bullets, three 9mm hand guns, two pepper sprays, two handcuffs, one SAPS reflector vest and a police cap.

They were discovered at the vacant quarters, which is due to be renovated, by security officers during a routine patrol.

The matter has been handed over to the Diepkloof police who have since opened a case and are conducting further investigations.

Gauteng acting MEC for health Jacob Mamabolo expressed his concern.

“It is deeply concerning that an unaccounted-for assortment of ammunition was found in a space that is meant to look after patients’ health care. We call on the police to get to the bottom of this and ensure that if these weapons were used to commit any crime, those responsible are brought to book,” Mamabolo said.

In a separate issue, Mamabolo welcomed the resumption of elective surgeries at the hospital, saying that with the country moving into alert level 1 from Monday it is important that the health system responds accordingly.

The Gauteng health department announced that Bara, working together with Bheki Mlangeni Hospital, has started carrying out elective surgeries that could not proceed during the higher levels of the national lockdown.

“Depending on development of the Covid-19 pandemic, the facilities will be gradually increasing the number of surgeries, especially elective cases. Already in the last two weeks 517 surgeries ranging from surgical, urology, cataract to gynae cases have been successfully conducted,” health spokesperson Kwara Kekana said.

TimesLIVE


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now