A R20-million hospital-sharing partnership between the Eastern Cape health department and the private sector, the first of its kind in South Africa, was launched on Friday.
The ”co-location” agreement will see South Africa’s largest health care provider, Afrox, and its empowerment partner Metropole, pump some R15-million into the expansion and upgrading of the existing Humansdorp hospital. The rest of the money will come from the province.
According to acting head of the department Michael Fraser, both public and private patients will be treated, in some cases sharing wards, and will receive the same level of service.
He said the concept was being investigated for extension to other provinces and also outside South Africa as a model for delivery in the health sector. The advantage to Afrox was that it had an opportunity to create a private health facility at considerably reduced investment compared to building a stand-alone facility.
For the department, the agreement meant upgrading of the public facility at very little or no cost to the province.
”At the same time we harness the skills of our partner Afrox and their medical personnel and management,” he said.
”What we are really doing is creating synergy between the public and private sectors.
”For the first time, public and private patients will enjoy exactly the same service in the same facility.”
The partnership agreement had been four years in the making.
Though construction had already started, Friday’s laying of a cornerstone by Eastern Cape health MEC Bevan Goqwana marked the formal commencement of a programme that would see the hospital extended and existing facilities upgraded.
Fraser said construction should be complete by the end of this year and the upgraded facility would go into full operation next year.
In terms of a concession agreement Afrox would have a 20-year right of use, after which the entire facility would revert to the provincial government. He said the community of Humansdorp and existing staff of the hospital had all been party to the agreement. – Sapa