Dr George Mukhari hospital is to undergo major renovations and is recruiting more doctors to improve the quality of care it provides to the community.
The hospital’s accident and emergency unit, the cardiothoracic unit and the burns unit are some of the key areas that will be upgraded. This emerged during a visit to the hospital by MEC Hope Papo this week.
Improvements have already taken place in some of the wards. Oxygen points and theatre lights were replaced at the maternity unit and ward 29. The ward was also painted. Contractors are currently on site replacing lifts and a new chiller plant.
During the visit the MEC toured the hospital’s neonatal units, the maternity, the kitchen and other service delivery points. He also saw new doctors’ restroom which is intended to provide doctors with a suitable rest place while on duty.
Last year, the hospital spent R34 million on new equipment aimed at improving the quality of care it provides to patients. This includes an endoscopy unit, a CT scan, C arm for hand surgery and other small items.
The MEC said the department had done a study of the prices of equipment in the health sector and the department was of the view that: “the equipment we buy must give us value for money. We are no longer going to be price takers. We insist that we must get the equipment directly from the primary suppliers and not from the middlemen,” the MEC said.
The hospital is in the process of recruiting a deputy chief execution and specialist doctors to head internal medicine, orthopaedics, ear nose and throat, plastic and general surgery units.
