Retreat Community Hospital

Retreat Hospital is a 24 hour Trauma Emergency Unit. As with our other facilities the hospital services a very poor community. Thanks to a generous donation from the Iqraa Trust, we have secured the funding for the ARV/TB clinic and need to equip the 5 Doctors rooms. Currently the hospital treats +/- 600 patients per day.  Due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS in the area the hospital is one of the designated ARV clinics in the Western Cape. The construction of the ARV Clinic is due to start within the week of the 25th March 2008. The construction will take an anticipated 4 weeks.

ARV UNIT SPONSORED BY IQRAA TRUST
The money to construct the ARV Clinic was very generously donated by the Iqraa Trust. We are inviting Voice of the Cape to share in the festivities of the day as we feel it is in the interest of your listeners to know that the Iqraa Trust has donated as the money as the money will have indirectly come from them.

RETREAT ARV/TB UNIT: NEEDS LIST

CONCRETEX unit (5 Doctors rooms) – ARV CLINIC

• 5 desks
• 5 lockable cupboards
• 14 chairs
• 5 x examination couch
• Curtains around exam couch
• Children chairs for Paediatric HIV Clinic & 2 children’s tables
• Extractor fans for each office
• UV lights for each room and waiting area (kills TB germs)
• Cupboard with 12 A4 size shelves (reception)
• Filing cabinet
• Carpet for reception area
• Colouring books and crayons for paed clinic

ARV CLINIC MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

• 4 x Dinamap = R25 000 each
• 4 x Digital scale adult= R2000 each
• 4 x Digital scale paediatric = R2 000 each
• 4 x Baumanometer = R900 each
• Digital camera – R3000
• Calculator x 2 R100 each
• 4 x wall mounted ENT sets R4521 each
• 4 x Digital thermometer (paeds)
• 2 x Blood sugar machines
• 2 x Hemoglobinometers

Approximate cost R200 000

Why are we focusing on the Western Cape?

While we have had requests from other areas our main focus has been the Western Cape. The province has a few unique problems in Health:
1.    The migration of patients from the Eastern Cape. Our hospitals are inundated with patients who have come down from the Eastern Cape. This is putting an immense strain on our Health budget.
2.    The increase in TB.
3.    The lack of ARV facilities at our clinics.
4.    78% of our population of 5.5 million using State Health Care.

The Western Cape has a well managed Health Care system. Starting with the MEC for Health Minister Pierre Uys and filtering down to the managers of the Hospitals and Clinics. Our Doctors and Health workers are passionate about there work and this leads to a successful health system. The main area of crisis is a lack of budget which is aggravated by migrating patients, the increase in TB and patients needing ARV”s and also the growth of our poverty stricken areas. Lack of housing and sanitation has a major impact on Health and the result is extra facilities have to be set up to accommodate illness associated with poverty. An example will be diarrhoea: Lentegeur Hospital in Mitchells Plain has been told to set up a 30 bed paediatric ward for children. The ward will run for 7 months to accommodate babies and children who are contracting the disease during our summer months. Diarrhoea is the cause of the most deaths in our children in the province.

We work in close association with the Health Department and Minister Uys and have controls in place to ensure that equipment handed over is well used and looked after. We do not yet have secure systems in place for the other provinces and until we can be sure the equipment is secure, we will not start the projects. SA Medical will be meeting with the Health Management of other Provinces in 2008 and will inform our national sponsors of the progress. The projects will fall within the TB/ HIV portfolio.