New hospital to provide world-class care

THE new 164-bed hospital Ahmed Al-Kadi private hospital in Durban is complete and ready to cater for patients across a broad spectrum of the community.

The hospital, situated on King Cetshwayo Highway in Mayville, was built at a cost of R500 million and is an ultra modern healthcare facility, a culmination of an eight-year-long dream of the Islamic Medical Association of South Africa (IMASA).

Pharmacist and prominent KZN businessman, Solly Suleman, was one of the key drivers of the project and said the hospital was built as a result of private hospitals in the CBD no longer being able to cope with the number of patients requiring treatment. IMASA’s vision was to fill that gap with a hospital which served all patients, regardless of race or religion.

The hospital has been named after prominent cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon Dr Ahmed Elkadi, who founded a number of Islamic institutions in the US, focusing on the needs of the underprivileged. Passionate about Islamic medicine, he had always dreamed of an Islamic hospital, a dream which has now become a reality.

The vision of the hospital emerged from a series of meetings eight years ago, and the hospital, which is now open to serve the community, took three years to build.

The wards and operating theatres are ultra modern and the hospital also boasts a 80-seater conference centre which is open to the public for hire.

The hospital site is strategically positioned off the N3 highway, making it accessible to patients and service providers. It is located in a safe neighbourhood within easy reach of other medical centres, hospitals and doctors’ consulting rooms. Facilities include radiology, a 24-hour emergency casualty unit, a medical ward, a surgical ward, a pharmacy, a paediatric ward, a day ward, an intensive care unit, high care, a maternity ward, a neonatal ICU, a general ward, four theatres, luxury private wards , medical suites, a renal dialysis unit, pathology (Lancet Laboratory), a Musallah (prayer facility), and an in-house laundry.

As of March, the hospital has employed 288 staff, which includes members the local community.

“What we realised very early on is that the R500 million needed to build and operate the hospital would require some innovative and imaginative thinking. Experience from others had taught us charity hospitals however worthy, cannot sustain themselves, many being forced to close down. So it was decided that to cater for the poorer communities, which is a prime objective,” said Suleman.

He said that in this way, the hospital could be run on a private fee paying basis equivalent to other private health care facilities, while the needs of the poor could be adequately addressed.