The old Fort Grey TB Hospital premises have been leased to new tenants who will turn the facility into a mental health institution.
Zeal Health Initiative, a consortium of health professionals from the Eastern Cape who are now based in Johannesburg, will be the new tenants.
Dr Hlombe Makuluma, speaking on behalf of the consortium, said they had applied to the provincial department of health for a licence for a mental health hospital.
Other health-related services were also planned.
“We want it to be like a step-down facility for mild mental health cases such as depression. We’d also like a fully-fledged medical centre looking at primary health issues with a general practitioner and a dentist. So this won’t be for mental health issues alone; it will also be for the community in the form of a general clinic.”
Makuluma said there would be a resident psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker for outpatient needs as well.
He said they had met the last requirement laid down by the department and it should not take long to issue the licence.
“Mental health is a specialist field – and in East London there’s only one facility, Life St Marks, and it is not accessible to most people.
“In South Africa generally, one in three people has mental health issues. This speaks to depression that is brought on by other issues such as trauma or financial difficulties. It is prevalent and there are no facilities around,” he said.
Makuluma said the advantage of using the old Fort Grey TB Hospital premises was that it was already known as a hospital location and the facility was very big. He said the location itself, inside, was tranquil and scenic, which was conducive for their purposes.
Owners of the premises, the East London TB Association (ELTBA) said they were glad to welcome a new tenant onto the premises.
ELTBA chairman Mzanywa Mketo said: “We’re looking forward to the services that will be brought into town by these new tenants, as well as positive spin-offs in terms of possible employment for the community.”
He said moving the TB service from Fort Grey to Mdantsane’s Nkqubela TB Hospital this month made sense for the provincial health department.
“We worked very well with the department of health. It was just a question of Nkqubela being under-utilised,” he said.
Last week, the provincial department moved the last of its multi-drug and extreme-drug resistant TB patients from Fort Grey to a new R18-million wing at Nkqubela.
The move came after the department realised that in order to cater for MDR and XDR-TB patient needs and meet compliance regulations, they would have to renovate their premises, and since Fort Grey did not belong to them, this was proving to be difficult.
The department then decided to centralise TB treatment for in-patients in the region through one facility, Nkqubela.
TB hospital moving to Mdantsane
Zeal Health Initiative, a consortium of health professionals from the Eastern Cape who are now based in Johannesburg, will be the new tenants.
Dr Hlombe Makuluma, speaking on behalf of the consortium, said they had applied to the provincial department of health for a licence for a mental health hospital.
Other health-related services were also planned.
“We want it to be like a step-down facility for mild mental health cases such as depression. We’d also like a fully-fledged medical centre looking at primary health issues with a general practitioner and a dentist. So this won’t be for mental health issues alone; it will also be for the community in the form of a general clinic.”
Makuluma said there would be a resident psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker for outpatient needs as well.
He said they had met the last requirement laid down by the department and it should not take long to issue the licence.
“Mental health is a specialist field – and in East London there’s only one facility, Life St Marks, and it is not accessible to most people.
“In South Africa generally, one in three people has mental health issues. This speaks to depression that is brought on by other issues such as trauma or financial difficulties. It is prevalent and there are no facilities around,” he said.
Makuluma said the advantage of using the old Fort Grey TB Hospital premises was that it was already known as a hospital location and the facility was very big. He said the location itself, inside, was tranquil and scenic, which was conducive for their purposes.
Owners of the premises, the East London TB Association (ELTBA) said they were glad to welcome a new tenant onto the premises.
ELTBA chairman Mzanywa Mketo said: “We’re looking forward to the services that will be brought into town by these new tenants, as well as positive spin-offs in terms of possible employment for the community.”
He said moving the TB service from Fort Grey to Mdantsane’s Nkqubela TB Hospital this month made sense for the provincial health department.
“We worked very well with the department of health. It was just a question of Nkqubela being under-utilised,” he said.
Last week, the provincial department moved the last of its multi-drug and extreme-drug resistant TB patients from Fort Grey to a new R18-million wing at Nkqubela.
The move came after the department realised that in order to cater for MDR and XDR-TB patient needs and meet compliance regulations, they would have to renovate their premises, and since Fort Grey did not belong to them, this was proving to be difficult.
The department then decided to centralise TB treatment for in-patients in the region through one facility, Nkqubela.
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