 has welcomed a R275 million allocation announced on Tuesday by Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, to tackle the ongoing hospital linen crisis across the province.){kind=link}
By Charmaine Ndlela
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has welcomed a R275 million allocation announced on Tuesday by Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, to tackle the ongoing hospital linen crisis across the province.
The adjustment will fund the urgent procurement of new hospital linen, mattresses, and beds, offering much-needed relief to overburdened facilities and addressing a chronic problem that has plagued Gauteng’s public health system for years.
The crisis dates back to at least 2022 but intensified in 2024 and 2025 due to repeated breakdowns of ageing laundry infrastructure, unpaid supplier debts totalling R743 million to 69 providers, and broader financial mismanagement in the Gauteng Department of Health.
Facilities such as Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) — Africa’s largest, with more than 3,200 beds — and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital have been among the hardest hit. At times, soiled linen has piled up in corridors, relatives have been forced to bring their own bedding, and non-emergency surgeries have been cancelled.
Provincial laundries like Dunswart and Masakhane have operated at sharply reduced capacity, in some cases with only one functional washer serving 14 hospitals and 54 clinics, deepening shortages across the province.
These failures have not only undermined patient dignity but have also contributed to a spike in hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). In 2024 alone, 7,743 HAIs were reported across Gauteng — many of them antibiotic-resistant and linked to reused bedding, inadequate cleaning supplies, overcrowding and staff shortages.
Charlotte Maxeke recorded the highest rate at 11% (1,473 out of 12,940 patients), while CHBAH reported 1,796 HAIs among 31,985 admissions in the previous year. Health experts warn that such conditions extend hospital stays, increase mortality risks and place further pressure on an already overstretched system serving millions in South Africa’s economic hub.
The latest intervention follows the DA’s high-profile exposure of the shortages, particularly at CHBAH in Soweto, where patients have slept on bare plastic liners and been forced to improvise with blankets or even pyjamas as makeshift sheets.
DA Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said the department had initially downplayed the problem, but “written replies now confirm that 870 beds at Bara had no full set of linen, even though each bed requires at least five sets to maintain hygiene and prevent infections”.
In a related statement, the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) reaffirmed its target of providing at least five full sets of linen per hospital bed, allowing for rotation through usage, laundering, storage and transport.
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