Motsoaledi to submit 11 major infrastructure bids as department tables R64.8bn budget

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told the National Council of Provinces that the Department of Health will submit 11 bids to the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BIF) as part of the department’s plans after tabling a R64.8 billion budget for 2026/27.

Planned BIF applications and support from Treasury

Motsoaledi said National Treasury opened four bid windows this financial year for infrastructure projects larger than R1 billion and that the department will begin sending its bids in the July bid window.

“We as Health will be sending 11 bids starting in the July bid window,”

The minister said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana had allocated a dedicated person to assist the department with the applications and that the department was already working with that person.

“The department has already started working with this dedicated person.”

Hospitals and facilities included in the applications

Motsoaledi listed the facilities included in the BIF infrastructure project applications. They include:

• Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital
• Soshanguve District Hospital
• Diepsloot District Hospital
• Thabang District Hospital
• Eldorado Park Hospital
• Holomisa Hospital in the Holomisa informal settlement in Gauteng
• Victoria Mxenge (King Edward VIII) Academic Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal
• Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in the Eastern Cape
• Mpumalanga Mental Health Hospital in Mpumalanga
• Tshilidzini Regional Hospital in Limpopo
• Elim Hospital in Limpopo

He said many of the 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.”

Motsoaledi also said six community health centres will form part of the BIF applications and that these centres will be announced in due course.

New HIV treatment rollout and cancer warning

The minister announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa will launch the rollout of a new HIV treatment programme, Lenacapavir, a six‑monthly injection, in Secunda, Mpumalanga, on Friday. Motsoaledi said many international partners in the fight against HIV/Aids had confirmed they would attend the event.

He reported that Lenacapavir had been delivered in 99 out of 360 facilities in high‑burden districts across six provinces.

Motsoaledi also outlined a programme aimed at eliminating cervical cancer and warned of its rising toll.

“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.”

Spending plan and recent procurement and hires

Motsoaledi told MPs that after a decade of austerity, Finance Minister Godongwana had allocated R6.7 billion to the department. The National Health Council comprising the Health Minister and all MECs agreed that the amount would be used to hire staff and buy essential goods, and to settle accruals owed to service providers.

The agreed spending items included hiring 1,200 post‑community service doctors, hiring 27,000 community health workers, and purchasing goods such as beds, bassinets, mattresses, linen, towels and blankets for public hospitals.

Motsoaledi provided progress figures up to the end of March:

• 933 community service doctors hired since January
• 22,856 community health workers hired
• 25,589 new beds purchased
• 83,333 new mattresses purchased
• 73,007 new pieces of linen procured

He also said the department had paid R1.4 billion towards accruals by the end of March and encouraged provinces to use their own resources to pay outstanding accruals.

What Motsoaledi told MPs

The information above was presented by Motsoaledi while tabling the department’s budget vote for the 2026/27 financial year in the National Council of Provinces.