date, 2005
By Anish Abraham
A NEW medical unit focussing on hand and upper limb surgery is to be built at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto under the banner Operation Hand of Hope.
This specialised unit, the first of its kind in the country, is the brainchild of Dr Walter Stuart and Professor John Fleming, who have been working for the past six years with colleagues, representatives from provincial department of health and corporate sponsors to get the project off the ground.
Officially launching the project, Gauteng MEC for health, Gwen Ramokgopa, oversaw a sod turning ceremony on the grounds of the hospital on Friday, 4 February. The foundations have already been laid.
Gregory Arthur, project manager at Tshikululu Social Investments - a company that manages social investment projects on behalf of the Anglo American Chairman's Fund - opened the function at the hospital's cardiovascular unit.
Arthur stressed the ever-important role played by private/public partnerships.
Representatives from Anglo American Chairman's Fund, Goldfields, African Rainbow Minerals, Impala Platinum and Scaw Metals Group were also in attendance to hear the beautiful singing of the hospital choir.
Fleming, founder of the hand unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, said: "It is a great privilege to be here. I never believed it could happen, but it has, thanks to the sponsors and the [health] department."
He described injuries that can happen to hands and the upper parts of the body, such as caused by trauma - knife, bullet or crushing - or through illness - osteo-arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and infection.
In 1976, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital became the first in the country to replant an amputated hand, while in 1977 it saw the first transplant of a big toe to replace a missing thumb, creating a functional hand.
Since then the hospital has since completed over 100 successful hand replants.
Interest in hand surgery as a speciality grew out of the effects of injuries sustained in World War II and several scientific societies were formed. South Africa is a founding member of the International Society of Hand Surgery.
Over the past 20 years Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has run a Hand Fellowship Programme, allowing surgeons to train with more experienced colleagues. It attracts specialists from England, Denmark, Portugal, Israel, Angola, Mozambique and Kenya.
The head of the hospital's hand unit, Dr Walter Stuart, paid tribute to Fleming, saying he was "the backbone of hand surgery at Bara and even in South Africa".
Construction workers with Dr Walter Stuart, Professor John Fleming,
Douglas Ramaphosa, executive head of public affairs at Anglo American,
and MEC for health Gwen Ramokgopa
He described how Fleming had came one day into their prefab ward and cut a hole through the dividing wall with an angle grinder so the unit could have more space.
Regarding the creation of a stand-alone facility, Stuart said the hand unit was the busiest in the hospital, but also the least staffed, with patients scattered over 10 wards.
Fleming described the creation of the unit as the culmination of a dream and he hopes the unit will encourage young orthopaedic surgeons to specialise in hand and upper limb surgery.
Locating the unit in one building would lead to improved service delivery and treatment, as well as create proper facilities to train future nurses and doctors.
The new building will contain two operating theatres, hospital administration offices, an outpatient's ward and a therapy department.
According to Stuart, hand therapy - physiotherapy and occupational therapy - is an integral part of rehabilitation.
The building will cost R5-million to construct, while operating costs are estimated at R10-million annually.
A short video demonstrating exactly what the surgery entailed was shown, demonstrating how it helps people who have been affected by such injuries.
Ramokgopa pointed out that over R700-million has been set aside for the revitalisation of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
Private/public partnerships in the health sector gave hope not only to the people of Soweto and Gauteng, but also to the rest of the country and even the continent as a whole, she added.
Since 1999, the provincial health department has spent some R1,2-billion upgrading and building new health facilities within Gauteng, while R698-million was spent during the same period on new equipment.
"A lot of work has been done over the past 10 years to improve public health services but a lot more still needs to be done for us to adequately respond to the challenges of the 21st century," she added.
Of the renovations taking place at the hospital, Ramokgopa said: "We have no doubt that once the revitalisation programme is completed, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital will be confirmed as an academic hospital of exceptional quality and access to health services will be greatly improved."
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