DURBAN - In just 16 months KwaMashu will be home to a new hospital called the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Memorial Hospital.
This hospital will bring quality healthcare service delivery to more than 1,5 million people in areas like Ntuzuma, Inanda, KwaMashu (INK) and surrounding areas.
The R2,5 billion hospital is a level 2 regional hospital that is located near the Bridge City mall, north if Durban. The hospital will have 500 beds.
The Durban hospital will serve as a referral centre for all surrounding public healthcare facilities and will lessen the pressure from Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital which currently has a huge catchment area.
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The hospital is named after Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme who was one of the first black lawyers in South Africa and served as the president of the African National Congress between 1930 and 1936. He was also married to the eldest daughter of the King Dinuzulu.
Accompanied by members of the royal Zulu household, the family of Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme and senior management of the Department of Health for KZN, the MEC for Health in KwaZulu-Natal Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said this new medical facility will change the lives of people.
"Once the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Memorial Hospital is complete, it will decrease the volume of patients and ease congestion at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial and King Edward VIII hospitals. In the north of Durban, there are close to 1,5 million people".
The new medical facility will prove a complete spectrum of up-to-date world-standard medical services consistent with the norms and standards used for all public health facilities in South Africa.
1802 people have been employed since the construction of the hospital began in 2015. Of that number 1167 are locals including 163 women, 986 youth and two disabled.
One of the features is a water harvesting feature through which rainwater will be harvested and then used for irrigation and ablution.