Pretoria - The project to upgrade and replace outdated hospital equipment and machinery at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has resulted in a huge improvement in the services that the hospital provides to the community.
Last year, the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development embarked on a project to replace old and deteriorating electro-mechanical equipment at various health institutions across Gauteng, in line with the implementation of Project 274. The department had been allocated R57 million for construction and R296 million for maintenance in the 2012/13 financial year.
Project 274 includes the replacement and refurbishment of boilers, lifts, laundries, chillers, autoclaves, electrical reticulation and change over switches of generators which have long exceeded their life span.
The first phase of the project included the upgrading of the laundry at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, which was recently completed at a cost of R16.5 million. The equipment was no longer useful for proper service delivery.
Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Bheki Nkosi visited the first phase of the project on Thursday to inspect the newly replaced laundry equipment at the hospital.
"Electro-mechanical equipment is central to the functionality of health facilities and the creation of a habitable healing environment.
"Gauteng has some of the oldest facilities in its portfolio that requires maximised attention, hence this multi-million rand investment," said the MEC.
With the new tumble dryer, iron liner and two roller ironers, the 2 880-bed hospital is now able to complete the washing and ironing of 1 200 sheets per hour - an improvement compared to the old machines, which completed 450 sheets per hour.
The new laundry equipment, which is used to wash sheets, pillows, theatre towels, will also service other clinics in the Soweto, Vaal, Roodepoort areas as well as Forensic Pathology units. It will also service the soon-to-be-completed Jabulani District Hospital.
An impressed Nkosi said with the new technology, the hospital was making a huge difference in handling the laundry load.
"We are very happy because the hospital is now able to handle the speed of the load, it is also of high quality and will ensure savings on energy, water and detergents," Nkosi said.
He added that they were bringing the process of bringing the new technology to hospitals, phase by phase.
