Newsroom
Thebe Hospital
Shortages of doctors! This photo on the right was taken of a sign at Thebe Hospital in Harrismith in the Free State last month. This hospital is situated 60 km away from the Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Regional Hospital. It has 80 approved beds and with a 77% bed occupancy rate monthly and they see an average of 424 patients who are admitted into the hospital monthly and an average of 1 442 outpatients. In addition to this the facility sees a lot of trauma-related admissions, as they are situated on the national route between Johannesburg and Durban which boasts a great deal of traffic.
The services in this hospital include:
- Internal Medicine
- Paediatrics
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- Surgery
- Outpatient Department (clinic)
- ICU
- Radiology
- Theatres
- Eye care
- Volunteer HIV Counselling and Treatment
- Dentistry
- Step Down facility
- Trauma Counselling
The story behind this photo; this hospital has a high vacancy rate. Harrismith is home to just under 100 000 people and Thebe currently only house four permanent doctors, one community service doctor and four sessional doctors. The permanent doctors actually rotate between this facility and Phumele Comminity Hospital in Vrede (over 100 km away).
Long hospital queues are a fact of life in many rural, public healthcare facilities – which is why AHP exists and has a mission to enhance public healthcare systems. AHP will be assisting Thebe Hospital with recruitment in the future, so watch this space.
