The Hammanskraal's Jubilee District Hospital got a new lease on life after the Gauteng Department of Health unveiled a new ward, CT (computerised tomography) scan and skills laboratory.
According to the Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, the newly renovated hospital situated north of Pretoria, will now be able to expand its scope of quality healthcare services.
The MEC said the renovation of the ward with 31 allocated beds is a strategic managerial decision after it was closed for a long time.
“The functionality of this ward will enhance the hospital’s capacity to address and handle the high-volume demand for cases of trauma, accidents and emergency,” she said on Tuesday.
She noted that the hospital was extremely flooded with trauma and emergency cases, because of its proximity to N1 and R101 roads.
“It then becomes a convenient destination for trauma cases happening around those identified roads.”
The ward will also serve as an orthopaedic ward.
CT scan
Also, the availability of the CT scan will limit transfers to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital (DGMAH) and will get nurses more time to care for patients.
“Previously the hospital was sending patients to DGMAH for a scanner and this hampered the projected time to provide prompt healthcare services to patients.”
Currently, according to the MEC, the hospital is admitting all surgical patients including general surgery, orthopaedics, urology, ophthalmology and gynaecology for females in the same ward.
“This includes motor vehicle accident patients with a suspected head injury, which are currently being sent to DGMAH for a scan, the scan reduces the time it takes to receive a diagnosis.”
She said this would also free emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles from many inter-hospital transfers, making them available for other calls.
“This will further relieve nurses from the responsibility of escorting patients as nurses are needed to escort patients to DGMAH and reduce unnecessary referrals.”
Jubilee Hospital Skills Lab
In addition, the Jubilee Hospital Skills Lab in partnership with the Sefako Makgatho University of Health Sciences is now fully equipped and operational.
“This is a ground-breaking initiative that will ensure long term befits of health science education, service delivery, and research for the Gauteng province,” she added.
She said the skills lab will be used for various fields, including specialist training in the field of surgery and medicine.
“The overall objective of this initiative is to ensure that health science students in their clinical years retain procedural skills acquired during the simulation-based medical education.”
Over and above this, the MEC said it will be used for clinical practice in emergency medicine, obstetrics and examination skills.
Meanwhile, she said the hospital is one of our health facilities that are earmarked to provide for COVID-19 services, which received an Alternative Building Technology (ABT) structure with 300 beds, to address the growing demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Such initiative provides a tangle evidence that we are on the right course, to delivery basic and quality health services for our people.” – SAnews.gov.za
