R80m modular hospital handed over to Cecilia Makiwane to ease burden
Ward with 100 beds will prioritise Covid patients
A modular hospital worth R80m has been donated to the Cecilia Makiwane hospital (CMH) to ease the health burden on the facility and assist in providing quality healthcare ahead of a projected coronavirus third wave.
The facility boasts a 100-bed ward as an extension of the hospital and was handed over to Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane by Siemens South Africa on Friday morning.
Mabuyane and provincial health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth inspected the modular structure, which has 90 medical and 10 ICU beds, a laboratory and a pharmacy.
The structure will be used for the admission of Covid-19 patients.
The provincial health department has in the past struggled to cater for all patients due to the unavailability of beds during the pandemic.
Mabuyane said Bhisho was delighted to receive the modular hospital and emphasised the importance of the public and private sectors working together.
“This gesture, like many we have received from German companies during this pandemic, will contribute towards saving the lives of our people from the deadly pandemic.
“This facility is at an appropriate location because this hospital serves the largest population in BCM [Buffalo City Metro] of over 140,000 people here in Mdantsane. We lost more than 2,300 lives to Covid-19 in BCM and that is a number we want to arrest.”
The Eastern Cape had a 94% Covid-19 recovery rate, with only 83 people currently admitted in provincial healthcare facilities by Friday, Mabuyane said.
“When Covid-19 hit our shores, we swiftly prioritised budgets within government and invested R590m in the refurbishment of 67 health facilities to create new bed capacity to care for Covid-19 patients.
“Through this investment, we now have new high care units in health facilities that did not have such capacity before, and this indicates our resolve to provide quality healthcare services to our people.”
He said the third wave of Covid19 was expected to hit the province in July.
“Our concern now is a resurgence that could lead to a third wave. But we believe it will be less severe, in terms of hospitalisations, deaths and the destruction of our economy.”
He said the province was planning to vaccinate 770,000 elderly people before July.
“Our strategy to manage a resurgence is three-fold.
“Firstly, we are heightening promotion of non-pharmaceutical protocols as the proven measure to curb the spread of the virus.
“Secondly, we are focusing on tracking, testing and isolation of new cases to avoid outbreaks.”
“Thirdly, we are registering people for vaccination and we also aim to give people with comorbidities one dose before the winter season and cover all essential workers by November under phase 2.”
Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa, said the modular solution would provide the main hospital with urgently needed beds, diagnostic services and a pharmacy.
“It is a great honour to hand over the modular unit to Cecilia Makiwane.
“When South Africa went into hard lockdown no-one would imagine what would follow.
“It was not only in SA, as many counties in the world had not prepared for the needy patients.”
She said it had taken a year to complete the project.
“The Eastern Cape was willing and wanted to work with us when the second wave was very rife.
“This will help to prepare for the third wave for BCM and surrounding communities.”
The state-of-the-art hospital could be a blueprint for more modular hospital wards in the province, Dall’Omo said.
“In SA it’s great to see how public and private partnerships work. I really like to be a part of a project that ensures that South Africans are safe and taken care of.”
She announced the company had also provided the hospital with mobile X-ray machines.
“The systems we have put in here are state-of-the-art, which will give comfort to patients. Patients don’t have to move around to take X-rays. We have protection systems to ensure signals are received.
“Also, within the context of SA, load-shedding is still a daily occurrence and we have standby solar solutions which will provide electricity from the roofs of the solar systems.”