President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially opened the new King Nyabela Hospital in Mpumalanga – a modern, 220-bed district facility that will serve the roughly 240 000 people of the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, and one that was delivered on time and on budget.
With about 87% of Mpumalanga’s residents relying entirely on public healthcare, the new hospital is a significant boost for the province, SAnews reports.
“Healthcare is about giving every man, woman and child the chance to live with dignity,” the President said at Tuesday’s opening. “This is the promise of our Constitution, which declares that everyone has the right of access to health care services.”
A full suite of services under one roof
The facility is far more than a set of wards. It includes surgical, medical, paediatric, antenatal, postnatal, neonatal and high-care wards, alongside what the Presidency describes as world-class accident and emergency departments and three operating theatres.
Outpatients are equally well catered for. Services include:
- A pharmacy and TB and HIV management
- Dentistry and eye care
- Dietetics and nutrition services
- Social workers, occupational therapy and physiotherapy
- Medical male circumcision and mental health care
President Ramaphosa held the range of services up as an example of truly comprehensive care. “Healthcare is not just about calling for an ambulance when we are sick,” he said. “Comprehensive health care is about walking alongside our people through every season of their lives. It is about helping people to keep and stay healthy and starting to do so when they are still children. It is about healing the mind as well as the body.”
A building block for universal coverage
The President placed the new hospital within the bigger journey towards universal health coverage, noting that the National Health Insurance is at its core about implementing “the constitutional right of access to healthcare, without this being dependent on where one lives or one’s ability to pay”.
He emphasised that as the rollout continues, all commissioned hospitals and clinics must be completed to budget and on time – a standard King Nyabela Hospital itself has already met.
A salute to the people in scrubs
The President reserved special praise for the country’s health workers, the people who will bring the new building to life every day.
“While hospitals and clinics are built with bricks and mortar, the heartbeat of our facilities is provided by the health care providers who diligently perform their duties. We salute all the healthcare workers at this facility and across our country.”
For the communities of Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, the doors are now open – and a new chapter in local healthcare has begun.
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
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