The purpose-built Medicross Highway Sub-acute and Rehabilitation Hospital has been officially opened in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by Dr Richard Friedland, CEO of Netcare.
The new facility is a collaborative effort between the Link Hills Medical Centre and Medicross, a provider of primary healthcare services and a subsidiary of Netcare, a leading South African private healthcare group. The new custom-built hospital forms part of Medicross’ expansion into the provision of sub-acute and rehabilitative care.
According to Dr Richard Darby, director of the Medicross Highway Sub-acute and Rehabilitation Hospital, it is the first purpose-built facility in the KZN region combining sub-acute and rehabilitation services. “During the time that we were working on this project, the specification of rehabilitation hospitals changed and we believe that this is one of the few facilities that is based on the latest specifications. The hospital, which offers high-quality, individualised post-acute care for patients who are recovering from injuries or illness, is also perfectly aligned to the care co-ordination programmes of major medical schemes.”
The project was initiated by Darby and his partners in the Link Hills Medical Centre, and developer Wayne Barr. “A licence for the building of a sub-acute and rehabilitation facility was obtained as far back as 2010. However, construction work on the 30-bed facility only commenced in 2016 when we found the perfect partner in Medicross and Netcare to help bring the long-anticipated project to fruition,” he adds.
Friedland said: “The establishment of such a facility is completely aligned to our vision for Netcare’s primary care division which has, over the last year or two, moved away from managing health care risk and medical aid administration towards focussing solely on delivering patient care of the highest quality at the most appropriate level of care”.