Baragwanath Mother’s Lodge to accommodate 72 mothers
The Mother’s Lodge expansion will provide more accommodation, meals and support services for mothers who face the financial and emotional strain of having newborns in critical care.
Ronald McDonald House South Africa has broken ground on a nearly R20 million expansion of its Mother’s Lodge at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Diepkloof.
The expansion will more than double the facility’s accommodation capacity, allowing more mothers to stay close to their newborns receiving critical hospital care.
The facility’s capacity will increase from 30 to 72 mothers, helping more families stay close to their babies without the added burden of finding accommodation while facing emotional and financial challenges.
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The organisation held a soil-turning ceremony on October 22 to mark the start of construction as part of its global Family Stays campaign. The expanded lodge is expected to open in 2027.
Since 2024, the Mother’s Lodge has supported 2 560 mothers, while the Ronald McDonald Family Room at the hospital has served more than 45 000 mothers since 2014.
Speaking to Urban News, Ronald McDonald House South Africa CEO Matshepo Msibi said the Mother’s Lodge currently has 15 bedrooms in a double-storey building. The facility is being expanded into a three-storey building with 36 bedrooms.
She said the lodge would offer en-suite bedrooms, an industrial kitchen, unlimited Wi-Fi, a prayer room, laundry facilities and three meals a day.
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“This is a communal space where mothers can connect with one another, and we also have a social worker who provides psychosocial support. It is important to care for mothers because when a child is hospitalised, the whole family is affected,” she said.
She added that the lodge helps ease the burden on mothers from outside the area who struggle with the cost of travelling to the hospital daily, particularly those who are breastfeeding.
She said healthcare was not provided by hospitals alone, as additional services also supported mothers and helped speed up their healing process.
Msibi said the organisation had seen the difference family-centred care made through its work at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.
“With the support of our partners and communities, we want to reach even more families across South Africa. We want to restore dignity to communities that are already experiencing hardship,” she said.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital CEO Dr Nthabiseng Makgana said the expansion was a welcome investment in patients and the communities served by the hospital.
“At Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, we see every day how important a mother’s presence is to the care and recovery of her child. For many families, travel costs and the need for accommodation make an already difficult time even harder,” she said.
Makgana said the partnership with Ronald McDonald House South Africa would allow more mothers to remain close to their babies and access the comfort and support they needed.
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Despite receiving financial support from Ronald McDonald House Global and its South African chapter, the organisation still needs an additional R3 million to complete construction.
The organisation is appealing to businesses, foundations, communities and individuals to contribute towards completing the project.
Globally, more than 94% of leading hospital partners agree that Ronald McDonald House reduces stress and financial pressure on families. The organisation aims to double the number of families it serves by 2030, as demand for its House and Family Room programmes is projected to reach two million families annually by 2034.
