NEW 36-BED ABT WARD OPENS AT TEMBISA HOSPITAL TO RELIEVE OVERCROWDING CHALLENGES

The Gauteng Department of Health has announced the opening of a new Alternative Building Technology (ABT) ward with a capacity of 36 beds at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital.

This move is aimed at addressing the overcrowding challenges experienced by the hospital, which serves three (3) metros in Gauteng, including Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, and Tshwane. The facility is seeing an increased demand for health services, and the new 36-bedded ABT ward is already relieving pressure at the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit.

Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, stated that plans are underway to extend the number of beds at the hospital in the 2023/24 financial year to improve capacity. Currently, the facility is an 840 approved bedded hospital.

The MEC further added that plans are in place to build a 300 bedded mother and child unit at the facility. There are also long-term plans to build another health facility to replace the old Kempton Park Hospital, which will alleviate the current pressure felt by Tembisa Hospital.

Tembisa Hospital’s catchment population includes the mushrooming of informal settlements around Ivory Park and Diepsloot. The current pressure is also due to inter-provincial relocation, immigration, and not having any referring facility in the referral pathway of the hospital. The MEC also revealed that the hospital has refurbished and repurposed a section of the facility, which is now used as an overflow area for mental health care users and patients presenting with acute psychosis. In an effort to improve care for mental healthcare users, 10 beds have been added to the hospital’s psychiatric ward, and eight more beds have been put in the medical wards.

The Gauteng Department of Health has also announced other long-term plans that will alleviate overcrowding pressure on Tembisa Hospital. This includes the building of a new hospital in Diepsloot, which was announced by Premier Panyaza Lesufi during his 2023 State of the Province Address.