Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - June 26, 2005
Tom Mapham
Gauteng province, the Joburg council and Wits University have joined forces to spend R326-million on a health precinct in Hillbrow.
This will not only make Hillbrow safer and cleaner, but also means a world-class HIV/Aids treatment and research facility will be developed in the area.
Professor Helen Rees, director of Wits's Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit, said this week: "If we can crack it we will have a world first."
Work started on the health precinct last year.
The precinct consists of the area between Constitution Hill to the north, Joubert Park to the south, Braamfontein and the Metro Centre to the west and Hillbrow to the east.
It includes the Hillbrow Community Health Centre * expected to open this week after its R25-million upgrade; the old Hillbrow Hospital, which will be renovated next; and the Esselen Street Clinic and the 100-year-old Hugh Solomon building on the corner of Klein and Esselen streets, which will cost R17-million to restore.
Rees said this week that Constitutional Hill made "an extraordinary visual statement for South Africa, but it is next to a part of the city that is rotting. We are going to turn this area around and create a world-class public-health facility."
Agmat Badat, the Joburg Development Agency's development manager for the health precinct, said the Hillbrow Community Health Centre would specialise in primary healthcare and take the strain off Joburg Hospital.
Dr Mamorena Mofokeng, acting clinical director of Joburg Hospital, said: "This will allow Joburg Gen to do what it is supposed to do * concentrate on specialist medicine without being distracted by lower-level cases."
Mofokeng said the hospital administration was discussing moving the polyclinic and casualty sections to Hillbrow. Specialist units such as the diabetes, hypertension and cardiology units will stay.
The health precinct will serve all basic needs, from flu to broken arms, and provide a full range of HIV/Aids-related health support.
Dr Refik Bismilla, director of health services for the City of Joburg, who has been involved in developing the precinct since Rees approached him four years ago, said: "There is nothing like this project anywhere in the world. We've looked.
"I am so excited because this combines improved health services with upgrading the area and will provide a base for training and research," he said.
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