Mooimed Private Hospital is continuing with elective surgeries amid a low intake of Covid-19 patients at its facility in Potchefstroom. The hospital, equipped with 83 medical, surgical and ICU beds, provides excellent medical services to the greater North West region.
The director and head of the Covid-19 task team, Dr Kobus Slabber, says unlike other hospitals in the province and around the country, Mooimed’s services and particularly its surgeries are continuing uninterrupted. He says the resources at their disposal determine its capacity and services. “We are fortunate that our facility did not have to postpone the various elective surgeries on offer at Mooimed Hospital. We specifically focus on surgeries in the disciplines of orthopaedics, like knee and hip replacements, urology, including lithotripsy and prostate procedures and our ophthalmology,” he says. Dr Slabber says because the hospital is currently not inundated with Covid-19 patients, they can continue with their normal workload.
“Mooimed is not a dedicated Covid-19 hospital. We do not admit acutely sick Covid-19 patients and only accommodate the overflow of stable patients from neighbouring hospitals if needed, as per mutual agreement. We work in close collaboration with other role players in the community to ensure that we deliver the best care to the patients. Our Covid-19 admissions are thus determined by the needs of the community,” he says. Should the need arise to open a Covid-19 ward, the hospital will follow stringent isolation protocols to ensure that no patient or personnel are exposed to transmission risk.
According to Slabber, these include but are not limited to strict access control to isolation area; dedicated staff assigned to the isolation ward; separate kitchen, pharmacy and cleaning access and sterilising areas where positive patients are accommodated. Dr Slabber says the safety and security of patients and staff are foremost on the hospital’s mind and strict measures are followed for admitting patients and visitors to the facility. “We have a satellite Covid-19 station, managed by Ampath lab-oratories, in the parking area outside the hospital.
Patients being admitted to our facility are tested before they can come for a procedure. We have also adopted safety measures that include the compulsory wearing of a mask, sanitising your hands before entering the building, maintaining social distancing and the compulsory screening and monitoring of temperatures to name a few. We have excellent cooperation from our tenant doctors and services, ensuring that access and exposure to the facility are kept to a minimum. We are very thankful to our frontline workers for the pedantic manner in which they assert our safety protocols to keep Mooimed Hospital and its occupants safe. Their selfless attitude, endless optimism and tireless work ethics are admirable in these difficult times.”
Dr Slabber says MooiMed Hospital is open to negotiations around providing a Covid-19 vaccination programme, should the Department of Health need assistance from the private sector. Meanwhile, the board chair, Dr Pieter Henning, says the hospital is currently undergoing massive internal changes under the new board and management. This will once again ensure that Mooimed attracts the best surgeons and doctors from around the country while offering a full turnkey medical service to patients and the broader community at the same time.
We are excited about the future of Mooimed and the impact it will have on our service delivery to the community. The new management team is dedicated to making sure our hospital is the preferred medical facility for Potchefstroom and the surrounding areas.” Henning says more details on the new direction Mooimed is moving in will be made available over the next few weeks.
