FURTHER construction and upgrades at both Ngwelezana and Hlabisa hospitals are now set in stone after KZN Treasury announced allocations of R85-million and R40-million respectively for the projects.
The overcrowded Ngwelezana Hospital, which caters for the uThungulu, uMkhanyakude and Zululand districts with a population three million people, is being expanded to provide an additional three-storey, 192-bed surgical building and a new crisis centre.
Ngwelezana is, according to the Department of Health, a 554-bed hospital, but reportedly only has 440 usable beds, five theatres and eight Intensive Care Unit beds.
The hospital’s 1 200 staff service about 7 700 patients per month.
To alleviate congestion, Ngwelezana management was last year compelled to consider transferring level one patients to eShowe Hospital.
Fortunately, since construction started at the beginning of last year, upgrading has already been completed on the hospital’s corridors, water and electrical systems, mortuary, college laboratory and a new medical ward.
The new surgical building is expected to be completed by January next year.
New pharmacy
Hlabisa Hospital, located in Umkhanyakude to serve communities in the Hlabisa and Mtubatuba areas, will be upgraded with a new pharmacy and out-patient centre.
Of its 296 beds, 275 are usable.
The hospital also oversees 17 fixed clinics in the region.
KZN MEC for Finance Belinda Scott last week expressed concern about the state of health care in parts of KZN, with insufficient funds available to effectively ramp up services.
She said at national level it was acknowledged that health budgets were inadequate, and that provinces should prioritise additional budget allocations to health to counter the pressures arising from increased medical costs and demand for laboratory services and medical supplies.
‘The steep decline of the Rand against the US dollar has had a direct impact on all of these essential services,’ said Scott.
‘But as with any challenging times, we must look for opportunities that arise in such situations.
‘We must focus our energies on cutting costs in areas that will impact the citizens of this province the least.
‘The directive is clear, we must protect infrastructure spending while ensuring that our expenditure on compensation of employees is reduced to ensure the sustainability of our wage bill.
‘We must look at doing things smarter and we must find ways to deliver our services at a lower cost while not impacting on the quality of the services we provide.’
