Historic 125-year-old Ngcobo hospital is being upgraded in phases
Eastern Cape health MEC Helen Sauls-August says the government is busy building a multimillion-rand, state-of-the-art hospital in Mjanyana village in rural Ngcobo.
The MEC, together with her counterpart from social development, Dr Pumza Dyantyi, acting AbaThembu King Azenathi Dalindyebo, Chris Hani district mayor Kholisa Vimbayo and Ngcobo mayor Lizeka Bonga-Tyali were among scores of people who descended on the village to celebrate Mjanyana Hospital’s 125th anniversary on Tuesday.
Sauls-August told the community that the hospital, which was one of the oldest in the country, should be preserved for future generations.
“This financial year we will be starting a housing accommodation project at the hospital. “It will cost around R92m. “We are trying to find funds [for the construction of the hospital]. It will be done in phases and will be a multiyear project,” she said.
The event was also used to officially launch the Albertina Sisulu centenary celebrations.
According to the provincial health department, Mjanyana Hospital has undergone massive infrastructural upgrades over the years.
These included fencing of the administration block and residence at a cost of R22m in 2014 and construction of a site for the planned new hospital at a cost of R39m in 2016. In 2018 an outpatient department, construction room, records section and pharmacy were being constructed at a cost of R5.7m.
Sauls-August told doctors and nurses said both Sisulu and the other ANC centenarian, former president Nelson Mandela, had shown how to persevere in the face of trying times.
She reminded nurses that patients should be treated with respect and dignity.
“That is what we must do if we want to honour people like mama Sisulu and Cecilia Makiwane,” Sauls-August said.
She called on villagers to eat healthy food they produced from their gardens instead of junk food, saying hospitals in the province were brimming with people suffering from tuberculosis, diabetes and other diseases which could be prevented if people were willing to change their eating habits and lifestyles.
Bonga-Tyali praised the hospital for its commitment to offering quality healthcare to rural residents for the past 125 years.
“The hospital has done a wonderful service to the community despite its rural location and the poverty experienced in the area,” Bonga-Tyali said.
She told Sauls-August that while they appreciated the department’s efforts to build clinics in many areas across Ngcobo, most were without electricity, resulting in residents having to travel to other areas for medical assistance.