Rustenburg - The North West Department of Health has sent a mobile clinic to Christiana in a bid to restore health services after the Christiana Town Clinic burnt down on Monday night.
The town clinic, which was the only remaining health facility in the area, was attached to the municipal hall, which also caught fire.
“The sad incident occurs at a time when we are in the process of finalising procurement of park homes which are to serve as a temporary structure until the hospital is rebuilt. I sent a team of managers to assess the damage caused by the fire, and they have made some sound recommendations to restore health services to the community of Christiana,” North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha said.
He said the mobile clinic would be stationed in Christiana until health services were restored.
“Following the assessment, the management team has also recognised that there is a piece of land next to the municipality which can be used to erect a temporary structure in the form of a park home. The strategic positioning of this piece of land will enable the structure to access water and electricity, which will allow clinic services to be rendered without interruption.”
He said the team has proposed the utilisation of an old park home consisting of three consulting rooms. The structure would provide an additional room to the burnt clinic.
Sambatha said the municipality was immediately engaged on these proposals as the need to restore clinic services was a matter of urgency.
The new park home, which the department is at an advanced stage of procuring, would be erected at the hospital as a gateway clinic and would remain operational even after the hospital is rebuilt.
Acting deputy director-general for health services, Pule Monale, said they had assessed the burnt structure and there were no reported injuries.
“The cause of fire is not yet known. We also had an engagement with the unions to indicate to the workers that a park home is envisaged to be available in a month’s time, which should be good news to workers who have been frustrated due to lack of a physical structure,” he said.
Sambatha has directed the management team to oversee all these plans until both hospital and primary health services are restored for the community of Christiana.
The Christiana Hospital burnt down on September 8 last year. Eighteen patients were moved to neighbouring hospitals after a fire ripped through the hospital, destroying the operational areas of the hospital, including the wards, patient records and theatre.
Investigations into the fire revealed that it was caused by human error.
“There are two critical findings into the investigation of the fire that destroyed the hospital. Firstly, we now know from the report that the fire was caused by human error. Then the good news is that the physical structure, specifically the walls, are still intact, hence the work of restoring the facility will be easier than initially thought," Sambatha said when releasing the investigation report.
IOL