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A ward in a hospital
It’s been confirmed that South Africa will get four new academic hospitals in provinces that historically did not have teaching hospitals.
This is according to the Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi. This came out during the tabling of the department’s budget last week.
Dr. Motsoaledi says the construction of a new academic hospital in Limpopo has commenced.
“The biggest hospitals, which we call central hospitals, where medical students are trained, are 10 in the country, and they are very big: Groote Schuur, Tygerberg, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Steve Biko, and Charlotte Maxeke. There are 10; four of them are in Gauteng. Mpumalanga has got nothing, and Limpopo has got nothing, but we have just started building one; it is 26% complete. North West has got nothing. Northern Cape has got nothing.”
Motsoaledi says some teaching hospitals are so dilapidated that refurbishment would not be an option.
“There are three medical universities whose teaching hospitals are completely dilapidated; one is King Edward VIII Hospital under the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It needs to be rebuilt from scratch, not refurbished—a totally new hospital but bearing the same name. The second one is Dr. George Mukhari Hospital under Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University here in Tshwane; it is also completely dilapidated. The third one will be Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital under Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha. Those ones exist, but they are not appropriate for the training of doctors.”
The Week Ahead | Govt’s plans for three new hospitals: Dr Aaron Motsoaledi:
