A new clinic catering for infants and children with paediatric surgical conditions has been opened at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
The Gauteng Health, GSK and Surgeons for Little Lives on Sunday opened a new Paediatric Surgery Outpatient Clinic which provides the first integrated service offering support for families of young patients.
“The clinic will house a parental sleep-over facility, allowing children the opportunity to have family support while admitted as inpatients to the hospital, often for prolonged periods of time,” said Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa.
She said the old paediatric surgery clinic had needed a complete overhaul. The new facility will go a long way in assisting the department to improve the quality of care delivered to children, their caregivers and families.
Acting CEO of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Dr Sifiso Maseko, said the clinic is a great initiative which shows what can be achieved when the private sector partners with the public service.
“We are grateful to both GSK and Surgeons for Little Lives for this historic venture. The patients treated here will extend beyond Gauteng citizens only because patient referrals are expected to come from across the country.
“We are thrilled that the new paediatric surgery outpatient clinic will increase our ability to improve our duty of care and the number of patients treated in our department of Paediatric Surgery,” said Maseko.
Maseko was confident the outpatient clinic and parental sleep-over facility will play an important role in improving access to quality healthcare for children, overcoming infrastructural and capacity challenges as well as improving resources for nurses and doctors.
Professor Jerome Loveland, Chairman of the Board Surgeons for Little Lives, said: “The outpatient department will take our clinical care, training and research to the next level.
“By providing support facilities for caregivers and family members we are not only decreasing the anxiety levels for children but alleviating some of the day-to-day workload of nursing staff who have previously provided motherly duties while patients were unable to be present at the hospital.”
