Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday announced that his department is planning to submit 11 bids to the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BIF) that is aimed to manage large public infrastructure projects.
Tabling the R64.8 billion budget for 2026 in the National Council of Provinces, Motsoaledi said the National Treasury had announced four bid windows this financial year for departments to bid for any infrastructure more than R1 billion.
“We as Health will be sending 11 bids starting in the July bid window,” Motsoaledi said.
He also said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana allocated a dedicated person to assist the department with the applications.
“The department has already started working with this dedicated person.”
Motsoaledi said the facilities included in the BIF infrastructure project applications are Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, Soshanguve District Hospital, Diepsloot District Hospital, Thabang District Hospital, Eldorado Park Hospital, and Holomisa Hospital in Holomisa informal settlement in Gauteng.
Others are Victoria Mxenge (King Edward VIII) Academic Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga Mental Health Hospital in Mpumalanga, as well as Tshilidzini Regional Hospital and Elim Hospital in Limpopo.
Motsoaledi noted that many facilities are in Gauteng because of the population that dramatically grew from six million in 1994 to about 16 million.
“The facilities there are just overwhelmed.”
He added that six community health centres, which will be announced in due course, will form part of the BIF applications.
Motsoaledi announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa will launch the rollout of a new HIV treatment programme, Lenacapavir, a six-monthly injection aimed at eliminating HIV, in Secunda, Mpumalanga, on Friday.
“Many international partners in the fight against HIV/Aids have confirmed that they will be in Mpumalanga to attend this event.”
He said Lenacapavir has been delivered in 99 out of 360 facilities in high burden districts in six provinces.
Motsoaledi also announced a programme aimed at eliminating cervical cancer.
“Without any doubt, honourable members, cancer is now becoming our new HIV/Aids pandemic; the sooner we do something about it, yes, the better. It is spreading at a rate, perhaps as fast as HIV/Aids used to spread.”
The minister told the MPs that after the department suffered a decade of austerity, Godongwana had allocated R6.7 billion.
The National Health Council of the Health Minister and all MECs had agreed that the amount be spent on hiring 1,200 post-community health doctors, 27,000 community health workers, and purchasing goods such as beds, bassinets, mattresses, linen, towels, and blankets for public hospitals.
The money was to be used to settle the accruals that are owed to service providers.
Motsoaledi said since January, they have hired 933 community service doctors and 22,856 community health workers by the end of March.
“I can confirm that 25,589 new beds have already been purchased, 83,333 new mattresses have already been purchased, and 73,007 new pieces of linen have been procured by the end of March.”
Motsoaledi also said they had paid R1.4 billion towards accruals by the end of March, and provinces were encouraged to use their own resources to pay for the outstanding accruals.