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Suspended Health MEC Bandile Masuku has threatened legal action against Bloom, saying she was spreading false information.
FILE: The Nasrec COVID-19 field hospital, which cost around R350 million, was intended to house at least 1,500 patients, but Bloom claims only 700 patients were admitted. Image: EWN
JOHANNESBURG – Jack Bloom of the Democratic Alliance (DA) said he would not retract his comments about alleged financial mismanagement at one of Gauteng’s largest COVID-19 facilities.
Suspended Health MEC Bandile Masuku has threatened legal action against Bloom, saying she was spreading false information.
This came after Bloom released a statement at Nasrec Field Hospital where he said that pending per COVID-19 patient equaled almost R500,000 per person.
R500,000 spent for each patient in the NASREC field hospital – @JackBloomDA
To read more, click here: https://t.co/qdYV8vhjPD pic.twitter.com/sdbsK4F5xg
– DA Gauteng (@DA_GPL) September 23, 2020
The province has also been accused of “probable corruption” as hospital beds are empty in the makeshift hospital.
However, the provincial government has defended the multi-million dollar project as being based on worst-case models.
Masuku gave Bloom an ultimatum to retract her statement regarding the admission of patients to the Nasrec field hospital.
However, the DA leader said he agreed with their comments that the suspended MEC mismanaged public funds.
The facility, which cost around R350 million, was meant to accommodate at least 1,500 patients, but Bloom claims only 700 patients were admitted, each costing the province about R500,000.
“I am certainly not going to retract my statement. This is what it has been costing and I think it needs to be justified. We suspect that there has been massive corruption involved and the Prosecutor’s Office will deal with the legal aspect. “
Bloom said that this was another reason why Masuku should be fired in addition to his inability to prevent the alleged corruption in personal protective equipment contracts.
“He is already accused by his own party of not overseeing PPE contracts sufficiently. Well, I don’t think I’ve done enough oversight for the field hospital and, frankly, for a lot of the other expenses. “
Masuku said that Bloom’s claims were dangerous, wrong and reckless, and aimed at misleading the public and tarnishing her image.
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