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The Eastern Cape is one of five provinces that have underspent their grant for the hospital revitalisation programme.
The Health Department revealed in a reply to a parliamentary question that delays in awarding tenders, poor contractor performance and court challenges had led to an underspending of hospital infrastructure allocations of 800-million rand.
The Eastern Cape underspent by R191m while Kwazulu Natal and Northern Cape were the highest at R228m.
DA MP, Patricia Kopane, says behind the numbers lies a crumbling infrastructure with serious and, in some cases, life-threatening consequences for patients.
"The Eastern Cape, for example, has a R22 billion infrastructure and maintenance backlog," she said.
"On a recent oversight visit to the Nessie Knight Hospital in the Eastern Cape we found the following:
:The hospital's infrastructure was dilapidated. It was recommended that the nurses' home, ARV TB ward and the engine room be condemned and demolished, as they posed an "occupational health and safety risk to staff and the patients".
:TB wards were poorly ventilated, which is unacceptable in a country where our TB prevalence rate is ranked 143rd worst out of 144 countries.
:The sanitation system needed upgrading and the sewerage system was dysfunctional.
Quality health care is a constitutional right that must be realised as a matter of urgency. Public hospitals are relied upon by the most vulnerable of our society and cannot be compromised by government inefficiencies and undue delays. If funding is made available it must be utilised efficiently and effectively."
