KwaZulu-Natal is investing R359m in upgrading Mosvold Hospital in uMkhanyakude as the province ramps up its efforts to improve healthcare infrastructure in rural communities, reports The Witness.
On a visit to the public district hospital in the Lebombo mountains near eSwatini’s border, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said work on the infrastructure programme was about 63% complete and should be finished within the next year.
The project includes a 40-unit staff accommodation block for healthcare professionals, a 22-bed paediatric unit and a mothers’ lodge that will accommodate up to 18 women and their babies.
The existing paediatric unit will also be converted into a nursery, while road infrastructure at the hospital is being upgraded.
Simelane said investment in rural hospitals was essential to ensuring both patients and healthcare workers had appropriate facilities.
“We cannot talk about improving healthcare in rural communities without investing in the infrastructure which supports that care,” she added.
The Mosvold project forms part of the Department of Health’s broader investment in healthcare facilities in uMkhanyakude and other rural districts.
Simelane also travelled to Nkungwini, near the South Africa-Eswatini border, where she led a Women’s Health edition of the department’s Isibhedlela Kubantu community outreach programme.
She urged women to talk openly about breast and cervical cancer and to seek medical attention early, saying that not talking about cancer did not mean it would go away.
“Silence creates a lack of knowledge, and that lack of knowledge can kill women,” she told them. “We must talk, we must screen and we must seek help early.”
She said that while cancer cases were increasing, “that does not mean we are powerless…some cancers can be prevented, and many can be treated successfully when they are detected early”.
She also warned against attributing symptoms to witchcraft.
“When a woman discovers a lump or notices a change in her body, let us not immediately say she has been bewitched. Go to the clinic and get checked. Valuable time can be lost when we delay seeking medical help.”
The Witness article – KZN invests R359 million in Mosvold Hospital upgrade (Open access)
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