Mitchell's Plain residents to get new hospital

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Cape Town - Residents living in Mitchell's Plain will in the next three years get a new hospital.

The construction of a R540 million hospital is expected to start in January 2010 and will be completed in December 2012.

Western Cape MEC for Health, Theuns Botha, announced on Tuesday that a decision had been taken to speed up the construction of the Mitchell's Plain District Hospital.

The four storey building, which will stand on five hectares of land, has been described as tall and compact with state-of-the-art equipment.

The hospital will cater for more than one million residents living in Mitchell's Plain, Phillipi and the Mandalay areas.

Botha said the estimated population of 432 462 people that will be served by the new hospital is a mix from different communities and of different socio-economic status.

"The new hospital will form an important link in the reshaping of healthcare services by providing district healthcare to the communities of Mitchell's Plain, Phumlani, Mandalay, Browns Farm and Cross Roads."

Currently, Mitchell's Plain residents use a local Community Health Centre, which sees only walk-in cases of around 4 000 patients per day, and not in-patients.

Emergency patients are stabilised and sent to hospitals like Groote Schuur and GF Jooste Hospital, which currently services a population of 1.3 million people.

The GF Jooste Hospital also carries a disproportionately large burden of HIV, TB and trauma cases.

The monthly attendance at the emergency centre ranges from 3 000 people in summer to 4 500 people in winter and approximately 1 200 of these patients are admitted on a monthly basis.