Staff ensure survival
ACCORDING to Reverend Cyril Pillay, chairperson of the RK Khan Hospital Board, the age of the hospital’s infrastructure has impacted on service delivery, because the catchment area for patients has far exceeded the original plan.
Numerous informal settlements and thousands of lowcost housing units, which have sprung up over recent years, also draw on the services of the hospital.
“The department’s inability to fund and fill crucial hospital posts all adds to the waiting period of patients and the shortage of beds for patient admission,” said Pillay.
“Under these trying circumstances the dedication of the staff must be complimented.”
Since RK Khan is a regional hospital, Pillay maintains there is an urgent need to augment it with a district hospital in the catchment area.
But it is not all doom and gloom.
The Hospital’s Pharmacy Decongestion Project (which in partnership with community organisations ensures that patients can collect medicines from facilities such as churches, temples and community halls) won the All Africa Public Sector Innovation Award in 2013 in the category Innovative Partnerships in Service Delivery.
The award was presented to hospital staff in Brazzaville, Congo, said Pillay.
The Pharmacy has also won the MEC’S Service Excellence Award; The South African Pharmacy Council Pioneer Facility Award; and the International Hospital Federation Award for the decongestion project.
In 2016, the Bravery Award was awarded to a staff member who risked his life to rescue a colleague from a burning building. At a ceremony in Gauteng on November, 2, the hospital’s Audiology Department received the Special Ministerial Award as part of the 2018 Public Sector Innovation Awards in recognition of its efforts for improving access to audiology services.
Meanwhile, many leading medical specialists in private practice earned their stripes at RK Khan, while many nursing managers in private practice and working overseas also received their training here.
“All of these accolades bear testimony to the legacy of Advocate RK Khan,” said Pillay.
“A man from our motherland India, who like our forefathers toiled the African soil and laid a firm foundation, that is still being celebrated in the 21st century.
“May his soul rest in peace, and may his legacy live on,” said Pillay.