How to be a pampered patient
THE Ahmed Al-Kadi Private Hospital on King Cetshwayo (Jan Smuts) Highway in Mayville is a modern, stateof-the-art facility aimed at providing quality-focused health care to all communities irrespective of ethnicity, gender, race or religion.
And as one of the directors, Solly Suleman, quipped during a pre-opening tour on Friday, once patients arrive they may not want to leave.
Having seen one of the eight luxury suites equipped with a couch, TV and modern hotelstyled bathroom, it becomes clear why.
Suleman told guests during the dinner banquet that these beds cost in the region of R90 000 and that no other hospital in the world had them.
So, one’s imagination can only run wild at the prospect of what the two VVIP suites, with a 220cm double bed, private lounge and patio, dining area and kitchenette would resemble once completed.
The 164-bed hospital, which is expected to open next month, has a 24-hour emergency department, high-care unit, labour, medical and surgical wards as well as a neonatal intensive-care unit.
Its design incorporates concepts of Islamic architecture such as water features, screens, arches and domes. The screens will provide privacy and ventilation, serve as a dust filter and use natural light to create reflective patterns.
Suleman said he was told there were not enough beds in the private sector and hoped Al-Kadi would provide the additional space required.
Their doctors, he added, were “head-hunted” from around the province and were among the best in their fields. He had also debunked the myth that the hospital only catered for the Muslim community.
“It will promote an Islamic ethos but will serve patients irrespective of race, religion or culture.”
The hospital, he added, had tried to cater to all dietary types with vegetarian meals being prepared separately.
Fellow director Dr Mohamed Cassim Solwa explained that the hospital was named after the late Egyptian-American cardio-thoracic and vascular surgeon Dr Ahmed Elkadi, who had dedicated his life to serving others in multiple capacities. He was described as a pioneer in many ways, playing a significant role in the founding of multiple Islamic institutions in the US, including the Islamic Medical Association, the Islamic Circle of North America and the Institute of Islamic Medicine for Education and Research.
Elkadi had travelled to South Africa several times, helping to establish the Islamic Medical Association of South Africa in 1979.
Passionate about Islamic medicine, he had always dreamt of having an Islamic hospital, said Solwa who, along with Suleman, was tasked with establishing the hospital.
Solwa emphasised that if staff did not possess the down-to-earth, spiritual and humanitarian characteristics like Elkadi, they would be failing patients.
The facility is being operated as a public company.
The IMA Baytul Nur Trust owns a 26% majority of shares and the balance of ownership is by private investors, who have purchased shares during the construction phase of the project.