In a quest to deliver basic health services to the people of the Bojanala District in the North West, Health MEC Dr Magome Masike will this week officially open a third Multi Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR TB) unit, and five medical wards at Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital.
The unit forms part of decentralisation of MDR TB treatment model aimed at making TB treatment accessible and closer to communities. The two decentralised MDR TB unit were opened in Gelukspan and Taung hospitals.
MDR TB expertise were initially centralised in Tshepong/ Klerksdorp Hospital Complex but a need to decentralise arose following the installation of Gene Xpert machine in various hospitals across the province. The Gene Xpert is a new test for tuberculosis. It can find out if a person is infected with TB within two hours and also if the TB bacterium of the person has resistance to one of the common TB drugs. Bojanala accounts for most of the TB patient caseload.
The hospital management team has converted two office blocks into five new medical wards and took refuge in caravans to accommodate the increasing number of patients visiting the hospital. The revamped office block made way for 11 bed ward catering for patients with highly infectious diseases, four specialised isolation wards and six bed MDR-TB unit. Bojanala District has the highest number of mines with the following impacting on health services, poor TB management due to migrant workers.
MEC Masike will also this week open a state art Bapong Community Health Center and Hebron Clinic. The two health facilities are based in Madibeng Health Sub District.
New clinics will help the department to achieve the goal of improving the health profile of the nation by rendering basic primary healthcare services. The services include treating communicable and none communicable diseases, emergency cases, family planning, Tuberculosis, maternal and child health, minor ailments and chronic illnesses among others.
“As we prepare for the National Health Insurance (NHI), it is therefore important that we improve the state of our facilities like clinics, community health centers and hospitals especially in rural areas. We want people to fully benefit from NHI by the time it is rolled out to all the districts,” MEC Masike said.
The events will be conducted as follows:
Opening of clinics in Madibeng Health Sub District
Date: 15 April 2014
Venue: Bapong Community Health Center
Time: 10h00
Opening of MDR-TB Unit at Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital
Date: 16 April 2014
Venue: Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital, Rustenburg
Time: 10h00
Members of the media are invited.
Enquiries:
Tebogo Lekgethwane
Provincial Health spokesperson
Cell: 082 929 9958
E-mail: tlekgethwane@nwpg.gov.za
