Jubilee Hospital facelift eases patient pressure

A new training facility, CT scanner and renovated ward at Jubilee Hospital will result in better patient care.

Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal, Gauteng, has undergone a major facelift and expansion that will see it not only increasing its capacity to handle patients, but also becoming a training facility for medical students.

The Gauteng Department of Health recently unveiled the renovated ward, computerised tomography (CT) scanner and a training lab to be used by medical students.

Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, said the improvements will ease the constant burden on the hospital.

“Because of the hospital’s close proximity to the N1 and R101 roads, it has been flooded by trauma and emergency cases as a result of car accidents,” she noted. 

The renovated ward 4, with 31 allocated beds, will improve the hospital’s capacity to handle these cases. The ward was previously closed and will now be used as an orthopaedic ward.

In 2020, the hospital was earmarked to provide Coronavirus Disease services and received an alternative building technology structure with 300 beds.

“The addition of 300 beds to the hospital’s existing 551-bed capacity means it is growing not only in terms of size, but in offering more services to the community.

“At present, the hospital is admitting all surgical patients, including general surgery, orthopaedics, urology, ophthalmology and gynaecology, to the same ward. We will now be able to separate the various units,” said Jubilee Hospital Acting CEO, Dr Olebogeng Modise.

The new CT scanner will also mean fewer transfers to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital.

A CT scanner enables doctors to examine patients internally through X-ray images taken from different angles. Images of bones, blood vessels and soft tissues can be obtained, thereby providing more detailed information than plain X-rays.

“We are now able to admit more trauma patients and with the CT scanner, we can deal with trauma cases quicker than we were able to in the past,” said Dr Modise.

The training facility will be used to train medical students in various fields, including surgery, emergency medicine and obstetrics.