Hospital plan for Durban South Coast
The KZN health department hopes that the new Umbumbulu hospital will alleviate pressure on Prince Mshiyeni Hospital.
|||Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department is looking at building another hospital: at Umbumbulu, south of Durban.
The department hopes the planned hospital will alleviate the pressure on Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi, which reportedly services about 39 000 patients a month.
The new hospital is expected to be built after the completion of Pixley ka Seme Hospital, now under construction in KwaMashu in three years.
Should a decision be made on the new hospital, it would mean that the planned Dr Langalibalele Dube Hospital in Inanda, would be put on hold.
The announcement was made by Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo before the legislature portfolio committee on Tuesday.
Dhlomo told the committee that some leaders had made a request for a hospital in the Umbumbulu area about three years ago.
He said the population of Umbumbulu, Folweni, KwaMakhutha, Illovo and Adams Mission was being catered for by Prince Mshiyeni Hospital, which also served the Umlazi population of 1 million.
Dhlomo said his department would start a discussion on re-prioritising some of its infrastructure programme for the coming financial years.
“We must consider building a hospital south of Durban. That is the re-arrangement we have to do. It may work to off-load the workload on Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital.”
He also said it made sense to build a hospital south of Durban considering the Pixley ka Seme Hospital in KwaMashu was being built and would alleviate pressure on the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Phoenix.
Dhlomo added that when this hospital was completed, the communities north of Durban would have significantly improved health delivery service, especially when the Dr Langalibalele Dube Hospital in Inanda was subsequently built.
“What’s worse is that Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital has to take over all patients who are seen at municipal clinics when all 59 of them close at 4pm.
“The facility is always overcrowded, day and night. Therefore, we really need to look into the feasibility of building a new hospital to serve these communities,” Dhlomo said.
The mooted hospital was welcomed by the health portfolio committee.
The ANC’s Jomo Sibiya said: “It is true that Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital is overburdened when you look at the huge population of Umlazi compared to that of Folweni, Umbumbulu, Adams Mission and KwaMakhutha.”
The DA’s Imran Keeka said it was a good idea to reprioritise the infrastructure programme.
Daily News