A South African first-of-its-kind Paediatric Emergency Care Unit has officially opened at Sebokeng Hospital, facilitated by the Carte Blanche Making a Difference Trust (CBMADT). The addition of a Paediatric Emergency Unit at the hospital, handed over on 19 November, is part of a project to establish a full emergency care wing and makes Sebokeng Hospital the only hospital in the country – public or private – that can offer this level of paediatric care to patients.
Financed by an extraordinary donation of R18.3 million by a private philanthropist and supported by additional donations of capital, material and professional services from various contributors, the Paediatric ER facility is the third project completed by CBMADT at Sebokeng Hospital. The first two projects at the hospital saw the establishment of a six-bed Infant High Care unit in 2016, followed by the expansion of Infant & Paediatric High Care capacity alongside the Infant High Care Unit, which brought the total to 14 High Care beds for the children of Sedibeng by 2021.
For more information on earlier work at Sebokeng Hospital click here
“Almost immediately after the opening of the Paediatric High Care Ward, families stopped taking their infants and children in medical crises to the Adult Casualty Unit and queued up in the main corridor of Ward 3 – the location of CBMADT’s previous projects and home to the most modern paediatric facilities at the hospital,” explains Carte Blanche Making a Difference Trust Patron, Karolina Andropoulos. “To cater for the increased demand, the HoD’s office – which offered no medical services like medical gas, oxygen or vacuum – became the Paediatric Emergency Treatment Room and chairs lined along both sides of the central corridor to seat the patients and their families. Easing the congestion in the area and helping reduce the potential for the spread of infections was a priority – and so, the third project began”.
The result is a standalone Paediatric ER Facility on a vacant lot which runs alongside the Paediatric Wards, which will dramatically increase access to healthcare for the youth of Sedibeng and beyond.
“Establishing the facility was not without its challenges – after the architectural, civil engineering, structural, electrical and mechanical designs and facility planning were submitted for municipal approvals, it was established that the ground conditions were entirely ‘rotten’, necessitating the excavation of the entire site and importation of new G5 landfill,” says Andropoulos. “This required a redesign of every element, resubmission to all stakeholders for approvals and tremendously expensive raft foundations.” Stakeholders also had to work to maintain stable relationships with local political and civic organisations and had to overcome threats from a local ‘construction mafia’ and extortionists who claimed to represent local civic and business structures.
With the facility officially opened on 19 November 2024 by Mrs Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, Gauteng MEC for Health, Sebokeng Hospital is now poised to accept even more referrals from all the primary health care facilities in the Vaal, as well as from various Level 1 district hospitals, including Kopanong. The facility services a burgeoning population in the Sedibeng District and the Paediatric Emergency Room will address a shortage of bed capacity and critical infrastructural resources in meeting the needs of its community.
Find out more about the Carte Blanche Making a Difference Trust online and join the conversation on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook using the hashtag #CarteBlancheMADT.
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