Heritage Cases

It is through a date that appears on a water tower on the hospital grounds, that the year in which the construction of General De La Rey Hospital was completed, is estimated. This date is 1953, and it is for this reason that a heritage application is being submitted. Despite the hospital building being over 60 years old, it is the humble opinion of all stakeholders in the hospital upgrade, that the building does not hold any heritage significance. General De La Rey Hospital is currently a 60-bed medical facility requiring urgent upgrade. The decision to upgrade the hospital from the current 60-bed facility to a 120-bed facility was taken on the backdrop of the decommissioning of Thusong Hospital. Thusong was built in 1968 to service communities around Lichtenburg, Coligny, Biesiesvlei, Itsoseng, Verdwaal and Sheila. It is approximately 27 kilometres away from General De La Rey Hospital. Due to it being built on dolomitic soil, it presented structural risks to patients and staff alike. This condition caused severe cracks in buildings, notwithstanding various efforts by the Department to implement maintenance projects to minimise the issues. Before its decommissioning, Thusong Hospital, together with General De La Rey Hospital and Itsoseng CHC, were part of one Hospital Complex under the leadership of a single executive management team. This upgrade would also result in de-complexing the two remaining facilities to operate independently, each with its own executive management team. Furthermore, Itsoseng would then be recategorized as a District Hospital and its capacity increased to 100-beds. The upgrade will mean that complex cases will no longer need to be referred to Mahikeng Provincial Hospital, which is 50 km away. As it stands, the hospital has a number of issues: -It requires urgent repair work. -There are circulatory issues. -There are security risks. -There is insufficient storage. -The facility is currently non-compliant with the IUSS (Infrastructure Unit Support System). -The facility is grossly overburdened. The Upgrading of General De La Rey Hospital will also introduce a number of new (and no inherently life-saving) services, such as a 24-hour Emergency Centre, Radiological Services, an Infectious Disease Isolation Unit and a dedicated Maternity Ward with its own specialised obstetrics theatre.