Charlotte Maxeke’s critical A&E unit opens its doors
ONE year after the fire that gutted Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJH), the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Unit at the facility has opened its doors, but not fully.
The Department of Health opened the unit yesterday in line with the decision in March that this critical unit would be ready by the end of the last month as part of a phased-in approach to rehabilitate the hospital.
The critical hospital in Gauteng and the Southern African Development Community region was gutted by a fire in April last year.
“Even though the A&E Unit will be commissioned, as a Central, Quaternary, Academic Hospital, the facility will be admitting priority 1 and 2 patients and will not be open for walk-in patients at the current moment,” Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said.
During a walkabout, head of trauma Professor Maeyane Moeng explained that the refurbishment of different floors and levels to Block 1 includes reinforcing the walls, which allows the hospital more time to evacuate patients should another blaze occur.
“There is a system that has been inserted with the ability to pinpoint exactly where a fire is coming from and that detection system is centrally connected so we’ll know before anyone else that there is a fire,” the trauma head said.
There is also a link between the alarm system and smoke control doors to be able to control smoke and prevent it from moving to other sections of the hospital. About 2 700 staff have also been trained on how to react to a fire and orientation of new exit routes.
The first group of patients, mostly from the Helen Joseph Hospital Emergency Department, moved into the A&E Unit on May 4 and as of today the total number of 15 patients has been transferred. They are also psychiatry patients who are awaiting admission, the minister added.
The department further emphasised that the opening of the unit was being done in a phased-in approach so as to not overwhelm the system and no ambulances were allowed in the A&E areas currently.
Phaahla added that the A&E units would start receiving ambulances after the CT scan, which was vandalised, was repaired.
“It is important to indicate that the CT scan machine is critical to the full operation of the A&E units given that trauma and adult emergency patients that present with life-threatening conditions (acute stroke, stabbed chest, head injuries, gunshots, etc) are time dependent and cannot be sent to another hospital,” the minister said.
The department said work would begin soon on the rest of Block 1 and would proceed in a staged approach through the rest of the hospital. The overall timeline for the completion of all remedial work on the rest of Block 1 to Block 5 was December next year.
“We are hopeful that the team will continue to work with diligence and resolve to ensure that this key health-care facility is returned to full functionality,” the minister said.
DA Gauteng spokesman on health Jack Bloom said the party was disappointed that the unit was not fully reopened this week.
“The public and the private sector need to work efficiently together to ensure that there are no further delays in getting the hospital departments up and running. If this does not occur, hundreds of patients will continue to suffer at hospitals like Helen Joseph which cannot cope with the flood of CMJH patients,” Bloom said.