E900M HOSPITAL FOR ELANGENI

LOBAMBA – The landscape of Elangeni will no longer be the same as government has plans to build a referral hospital of nearly E900million.

This means that Swazi patients will no longer be transferred to South Africa for medical attention as the referral hospital will be of world class standards to treat all kinds of ailments.
This was revealed by Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumallo when MPs passed the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (The National Referral Hospital) Loan Bill No.10 of 2017.
The loan is for the first stage of the hospital and will cost about E190.5million (KD4 500 000).

The MPs were informed that before the completion of the first phase, the Ministry of Finance would engage in negotiations for Phase 2 funding, which will be US$52 million or E676 million.
MP Khumalo said initially, two locations had been earmarked for the project one being Elangeni and the other along Yithabantu Highway, near Ngwane Park.
He said, however, due to the terrain of the road to Nhlangano, the contractors had decided that it was best to use the Elangeni site.
The hospital will, however, not be run by government, but instead a private operator would manage the whole facility.

Khumalo said they would look for an operator within the region. He said the ministry had, however, not as yet identified one, but such would be advertised to make the service more competitive.
He said government would continue to pay for patients that would be referred to that hospital under Phalala Fund and they believed that this would save a lot of money for government as compared to always transferring patients to South Africa.
The MPs wanted to know that with the private operator running the facility, would government still be in control of the fees charged and it was reported that government would monitor and regulate the private operator, meaning that it would be in control of the fees.

Lobamba MP Michael Masilela said it was good news that locals would now be taken to a hospital in the country instead of the high fees such as E250 000, which were involved in taking them to SA.
Matsanjeni North MP Phila Buthelezi wanted to know who had been engaged for the construction of the hospital and whether the operator would rent it out from government.  Mntfongwaneni MP Mjuluko Dlamini said such a facility was long overdue, especially because it would have world class equipment.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: