New emergency centre to kick off with World Cup
2010-02-18
Lise Beyers
THERE is great excitement at Paarl Hospital currently, with work steam-rolling ahead to complete their new emergency centre (casualty department). And although work only started here on 5 January this year, it is expected to be completed in time for the kick-off for the 2010 World Cup. Paarl Hospital has been declared one of the designated hospitals which will deal with large scale emergencies, if any, during the World Cup Soccer tournament. It is thus of utmost importance that the EC is up and running by June. Currently casualties are being treated from make-shift offices and wards next to the construction site and in the old hospital building. “We have all here been severely inconvenienced by this, but I am convinced that in a few months we will be reaping the benefits of the new centre,” says chief of emergencies, Dr Jacobus Louw. Louw is like a child in a candy store, when showing the building progress. “The old department was 1000m˛ and on completion it will have almost doubled. “It has been designed with the assistance of international experts with an improvement in the flow of patients which will make service delivery run much more smoothly. “The ultra-modern world class finishes will be accompanied by state of the art medical equipment.” Although the Paarl Hospital has been undergoing an extensive upgrade during the past few years, the emergency centre was originally not part of the plans. “We had a revamp here in 1999/2000 and the authorities deemed another upgrade unnecessary. But we treat between 40 000 and 45 000 people a year and were bursting out of our seams. “It took a lot of pleading and fighting to convince the authorities to upgrade the facility, but we eventually won.” On completion the EC will have two entrances, one designated for ambulance personnel only, and the other for the rest of the public. Stringent security will be implemented at all times. Access to the hospital theatres, high-care unit and other critical treatment centres will all be easily accessible from the EC. “The EC will be able to proudly stand next to any other such centre anywhere in the world.” * Although the upgrade of Paarl Hospital should already have been completed, it has been delayed due to various hiccups such as torrential winter rains, as well as labour actions. Work is however progressing smoothly and work here should be completed later this year.
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