The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) is making solid progress in improving operations at the Masakhane Laundry and Cook Freeze facility. Key upgrades already completed include the replacement of 18 steam jacket pots, ulma machine and food conveyor belt on the Cook Freeze side and the Installation of five new 100kg washer extractors in the laundry section.
Work is also underway to repair other machinery and strengthen staffing in critical areas such as boiler operations, with 10 new boiler operators to be appointed by the end of this year.
Masakhane Laundry supports 14 hospitals, 54 clinics, and 8 EMS depots with clean linen – ensuring hygiene and dignity in patient care. The Cook Freeze facility supplies meals to 6 hospitals and 17 Community Healthcare Centres, serving thousands of patients daily. It produces 8 000 plates a day of nutritious meals pre-plated, quick-frozen at -72oC, and delivered to health facilities for reconstitution and immediate serving.
The GDoH led by the MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo- Ralehoko today (Wednesday, 13 August) appraised the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Wellness about the operations of the laundry and cook freeze and the recapitalisation programme that is underway. The committee was conducting an oversight visit.
“The improvements we are making are critical and will significantly increase production capacity, improve efficiency, and reduce downtime at Masakhane – a facility that plays a vital role in supplying clean linen and prepared meals to hospitals and clinics across Gauteng. With more reliable equipment and stable staffing, patient care will be better supported through uninterrupted service delivery,” explained Nkomo-Ralehoko post the visit.
Masakhane’s main challenges have included ageing laundry and cook freeze equipment, machinery breakdowns, and shortages in critical posts, which have led to increased overtime for existing staff. To address these, the department is implementing a recapitalisation programme to replace machines that have reached the end of their lifespan, maintain equipment that can be repaired, and fill funded vacant positions to ease operational pressure.
A R100 million grant from the National Department of Health is providing a major boost to this work. Half of the funding R50 million is being invested directly into upgrading laundry machinery at Masakhane and other provincial laundries. The rest is being used to repair and upgrade boilers, chillers, heat pumps, and air-conditioning systems in health facilities.
Meanwhile, while budget constraints mean not every vacancy can be filled immediately, the department is prioritising urgent needs to ensure uninterrupted linen and meal supply to healthcare facilities. The ongoing work at Masakhane demonstrate the department’s commitment to strengthening essential support services for better patient care.
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