Update on New Mitchells Plain Hospital and Temporary Closure of GF Jooste Hospital | Western Cape Government

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Update on New Mitchells Plain Hospital and Temporary Closure of GF Jooste Hospital

23 October 2013

The commissioning of Mitchells Plain Hospital is entering a new phase next week with the new hospital opening for its first outpatients on Tuesday (29 October) and the Kangaroo Mother Care and post-natal services opening on Friday (1 November).

The Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, will officially open the hospital on 12 November 2013.

The Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha, will introduce the new facility boards of Mitchells Plain Hospital and GF Jooste Hospital at a media briefing on Tuesday, 29 October.

Minister Botha says: “I am pleased with the commissioning of the Mitchells Plain Hospital to date. The staff are working long hours to ensure that the operational management runs smoothly.

“The draft Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) report and recommendations with regard to the future of the infrastructure of the present GF Jooste Hospital has been completed and will be finalised by the end of this month after consultation with the Department of Transport and Public Works. The on-site work for the new GF Jooste Hospital will in all likelihood begin during 2015 for completion by 2018.”

The only units in operation at GF Jooste Hospital at the moment are the emergency centre, the Thutuzela rape assist centre and two medical overnight wards. These will transfer to the emergency centre currently under construction on the precinct of the Heideveld Community Development Centre to ensure access for residents of the Klipfontein corridor to emergency services while the new GF Jooste Hospital is constructed. If construction and fitting goes according to plan, the Heideveld emergency centre will be complete by April 2014.

GF Jooste Hospital will finally close for the reconstruction period after this has occurred. GF Jooste Hospital’s outpatients need to visit Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Mowbray Maternity Hospital, Groote Schuur Hospital, Hanover Park CHC and Gugulethu CHC. This information has been communicated to patients at their last appointments, through pamphlets and community newspapers and radio.

Chairperson of the GF Jooste hospital facility board, Mercia Isaacs, says: “The pace at which the staff at Mitchells Plain Hospital is working is unbelievable and the board of GF Jooste  hospital continues to support them”.

Media Enquiries: 

Hélène Rossouw
Spokesperson for Theuns Botha, Western Cape Minister of Health
Tel: 021 483 4426
E-mail: helene.rossouw@westerncape.gov.za