As part of continued partnership with the private sector, Gauteng Health, global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Surgeons for Little Lives, a local non-profit organisation, have opened a newly built paediatric surgical outpatient and parental sleep-over facility at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
The new clinic will cater for infants and children with paediatric surgical conditions, providing the first integrated service offering support for families of young patients. MEC Gwen Ramokgopa said the old paediatric surgery clinic required a complete overhaul. The new facility is a very significant project and it will go a long way in assisting the department to improve the quality of care delivered to children, their caregivers and families.
"We are patient centred department and the new centre is in line with our endeavours to ensure the patients comfort in our facilities. The clinic will house a parental sleep-over facility, allowing children the opportunity to have family support while admitted as inpatients to the hospital, often for prolonged periods of time",
"I want to thank Surgeons for Little Lives, GSK and Mediclinic for this facility which was done within times frames. We have learnt from surgical project that we need to work together to realise the recovery of the health system. The health system as it now is on a precipice. I'm telling the gospel truth. There is no other truth other than that. The budget that we have for the department is not able to carry us the whole year. We need to look at working differently to ensure that every resource that we have we use it optimally and responsibly. Whether it is cleaning material, laboratory test, medication, ordering x-rays or other investigations, every resource must be optimally utilised. I believe if we use our resources more optimally our budget can stretch and push back the imminent crises, concluded Ramokgopa.
"This is a great initiative which shows what can be achieved when the private sector partners with us in the public service. We are grateful to both GSK and Surgeons for Little Lives for this historic venture. The patients treated here will extend beyond Gauteng citizens only because patient referrals are expected to come from across the country. We are thrilled that the new paediatric surgery outpatient clinic will increase our ability to improve our duty of care and the number of patients treated in our department of Paediatric Surgery", said the acting CEO of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Dr Sifiso Maseko.
"Together with the Health Department, GSK, and crucial support from Mediclinic, we have worked hard to see this project materialise, turning a pipe dream into reality. We are confident that this outpatient clinic and parental sleep-over facility will play an important role in improving access to quality healthcare for children, overcoming infrastructural and capacity challenges as well as improving resources for nurses and doctors. The outpatient department will take our clinical care, training and research to the next level. By providing support facilities for caregivers and family members we are not only decreasing the anxiety levels for children but alleviating some of the day-to-day workload of nursing staff who have previously provided motherly duties while patients were unable to be present at the hospital", said Professor Jerome Loveland, board chair of Surgeons for Little Lives.
[link url="http://allafrica.com/stories/201712180648.html"]Gauteng Health material[/link]