By: ANG Reporter
A new Alternative Building Technology (ABT) ward with a capacity of 36 beds has been opened at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital as part of efforts to relieve the overcrowding challenges, the Gauteng Department of Health announced on Sunday.
Serving three metros in Gauteng, mainly Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane, Tembisa Hospital is constantly seeing an increased demand for health services, said the Department.
It added that the new 36 bedded ABT was already relieving pressure at the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit. Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said there are plans to extend the number of beds at the hospital in the
2023/24 financial year to improve capacity. Currently the facility is an 840 approved bedded hospital.
“We are also planning to build a 300 bedded mother and child unit at the facility. There are also long-term plans to build another health facility to replace the old Kempton Park Hospital which will alleviate the
current pressure felt by Tembisa Hospital,” explained Nkomo-Ralehoko.
The Department said Tembisa Hospital’s catchment population included the mushrooming of informal settlements around Ivory Park and Diepsloot. The current pressure is also due to inter-provincial relocation, immigration and not having any referring facility in the referral pathway of the hospital.
In addition, MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko said the hospital had refurbished and repurposed a section of the facility, which is now used as an overflow area for mental health-care users and patients presenting with acute psychosis.
“As part of efforts to improve care for mental healthcare users, we have ensured the addition of 10 beds to the hospital’s psychiatric ward and eight more beds have been put in the medical wards,” said the MEC.
Other long-term plans that will also alleviate overcrowding pressure on Tembisa Hospital include the building of a new hospital in Diepsloot. This was announced by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi during his 2023 State of the Province Address, who said the provincial government was fast-tracking the application with National Treasury to give Gauteng its health infrastructure budget in advance.
