Opened in June 1997, Netcare uMhlanga Hospital has been serving the private healthcare needs of communities in the surrounding suburbs of eThekwini and beyond for two decades.
With uMhlanga developing rapidly into an important economic hub over this period, the hospital also expanded its facilities, capacity and services considerably to keep pace with the growing demand for private hospital care, without compromising on the personalised care its patients first received when the facility opened its doors 20 years ago.
Pic: Netcare uMhlanga Hospital is celebrating 20 years of providing world-class healthcare
“Each hospital has a personality of its own, and Netcare uMhlanga Hospital has made a name for itself among patients, visitors, staff and doctors alike with its professional yet friendly brand of care,” notes the general manager, Marc van Heerden.
When the hospital opened it had 140 beds, five operating theatres and two delivery rooms. Today Netcare uMhlanga Hospital is an impressive, modern facility with 270-beds and eight theatres. The hospital’s state-of-the-art facilities include a dedicated stroke unit, a cardiac catheterisation laboratory, maternity unit with three delivery rooms and a dedicated caesarean theatre, a neonatal ICU for premature and other compromised babies, a paediatric ward and paediatric ICU, adult ICU and high care unit in addition to general wards, offering a full spectrum of specialised treatments and supporting healthcare services.
The services provided by the hospital’s 24-hour emergency department are also of significant importance to the community. Netcare uMhlanga Hospital’s emergency department ranks among the top five Netcare emergency departments in the country in terms of the volume of critically injured or ill patients treated.
Craig Murphy, regional director of Netcare’s coastal region, congratulated the hospital on reaching its 20-year milestone. “We remain humbled by the trust that our community has placed in us by allowing us to care for them and we stand ready to serve them in the years ahead.”
Netcare uMhlanga Hospital has been host to a number of medical firsts for KwaZulu-Natal, and is well known for its world-class treatment options and technology.
In 2012, a multidisciplinary team of specialists from Netcare uMhlanga and Netcare Parklands hospitals made headlines after performing cutting edge, life saving pinhole surgery on an unborn baby while he was still in his mother’s womb, which paved the way for other lifesaving in-utero procedures. Internationally acclaimed foetal specialist, Dr Ismail Bhorat, who was an integral member of this team, still practises at Netcare uMhlanga Hospital.
In 2015, the hospital’s nuclear medicine centre was the first in the province to treat inoperable and metastatic neuroendocrine tumours with the Lutetium (177) Lu-DOTATATE procedure.
The radiology department, operated by Dr Wedderburn Maxwell and Partners Inc, offers class-leading imaging technology and was the first to install a 3 Tesla MRI and offer tomographic digital mammograms in the private healthcare sector in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Situated in one of the fastest-growing centres in the country, we are confident that the hospital will remain at the forefront of medical developments in the province, and a healthcare facility of choice in the area,” says Murphy.
Van Heerden says that Netcare uMhlanga Hospital has attracted and retained many highly respected specialists, nurses and allied healthcare practitioners, and its success is largely attributable to the dedication of its staff members and the medical practitioners who practise there. “We are particularly fortunate to have such a remarkable team, with each individual contributing in their own way to the efficient running of this sizable healthcare facility.
“I would particularly like to thank the people who have been with Netcare uMhlanga Hospital since its inception, for their loyalty and helping to maintain the institutional knowledge that is integral to our approach to caring for our patients. Staff members Alan King, Rachel Perumal, Sobhna Bodalia, Monica Mlaba, Simon Ntanzi, Ben Mthetwa and Sipho Mbonambi have been with us since the beginning. Sipho has a perfect attendance record, having never been absent due to illness over his two decades of service.
“Doctors who have been practising at the hospital since its opening are cardiologist Dr YT Singh, neurosurgeon Dr Krishna John Naidoo, orthopaedic surgeons Dr Niel van Eeden and Dr Jacobus Willers, nephrologist Dr Ismail Randeree, anaesthetists Dr Derick Jordaan and Dr John Hargreaves, obstetrician gynaecologists Dr Rajesh Mahabir and Dr KT Subrayen, paediatrician Dr Lionel Kunnie as well as general surgeons Dr Brian Duncan Warman, Dr Nikesh Sewkuran & partners, and Dr Kogilan Chetty,” Van Heerden adds.
Jacques Du Plessis, managing director of Netcare’s hospital division, congratulated the hospital on its 20th anniversary. “On behalf of Netcare’s hospital division, I would like to extend our thanks to the doctors, other healthcare practitioners, staff members and the hospital leadership who have contributed to building Netcare uMhlanga Hospital’s reputation for excellence in healthcare, as well as to the local communities for their continued support,” he says.
“We wish Marc and his team at Netcare uMhlanga Hospital all the very best and look forward to seeing the hospital continue to serve the community with quality healthcare for many years to come,” Du Plessis concluded.
Ends
Issued by: Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare uMhlanga Hospital
Contact : Martina Nicholson, Graeme Swinney or Meggan Saville
Telephone: (011) 469 3016
Email: [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]