A walk down Charlotte Maxeke Hospital heritage lane

The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) in Parktown forms part of the country’s heritage.

Sharing the history of the hospital on Heritage Day, the hospital’s CEO, Gladys Bogoshi said the first footprint of the academic hospital in 1886 was a house which had 12 beds. She explained that the building was started in 1972 but the hospital was finished and commissioned in 1978. “The hospital was named Johannesburg Hospital but generally speaking people used to call it Joburg Gen. However, in 2008 September during Heritage Month, the hospital was renamed Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital,” Bogoshi said.

She said Charlotte Makgomo Maxeke was the first black person to receive a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in 1901 from a university in Ohio, United States and she became the first black woman to qualify with BSc.

The hospital is quite big with 1 068 beds. Bogoshi said, “We deliver about 800 children per month, we see more than 100 000 patients per annum. We have 33 theatres that operate daily, Monday to Friday, of which four operate 24/7. On a daily basis, we’ve got about 1 800 patients visiting our 52 clinics that run daily.”

Operational manager Tersia La Bercensie added that they receive patients from eight referral hospitals which are primary hospitals and primary healthcare centres. She added, “All patients that come here are unfortunately from very poor areas. So, if they come here, we try our best to give them service, make this place like home, make it as safe as possible, like a family setting.”

Transplant co-ordinator Nancy Makoe said they specialise in giving a second chance in the life of their patients with renal failure and all patients with kidney diseases, patients who need liver transplants.

Details: Charlotte Maxeke Hospital 011 488 4911.

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