New Emergency Centre under Construction at Karl Bremer Hospital

The new Emergency Centre currently under construction at Karl Bremer Hospital will broaden the scope of health services on offer to a complete package of primary healthcare services to patients from the northern and Tygerberg sub-districts, the Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha, said at a media briefing on 7 August.

Construction cost is R53 million. Equipment cost is estimated at R20 million.

Karl Bremer Hospital was opened 56 years ago - in 1956. The hospital was used as an academic hospital for Stellenbosch University. When Tygerberg Hospital opened 20 years later, in 1976, Karl Bremer Hospital became a hospital for the admission of private patients.

Appropriately, 20 years later, in 1996, Karl Bremer Hospital opened as a secondary hospital for government patients. In 2009, it was classified as a district hospital, but with no emergency services. Current services offered are surgery, internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology services. At present, the hospital attends to an average of 1 000 patients through medical emergencies.

Construction work at the hospital commenced in July and is expected to be complete in September 2013. Once the Emergency Centre is in operation, the hospital will be able to treat trauma patients from the northern and Tygerberg sub-districts, excluding Delft. Patients from Delft are expected to use Eersteriver Hospital. 24-hour emergency services at Elsiesriver and Kraaifontein community health centres will continue to operate after the opening of the Karl Bremer Hospital Emergency Centre.

People using the hospital entrance must please be careful, because of the disruption on the site. If possible, visitors are advised to park on the terrain at the hospital entrance and walk up the ramp to the entrance.