Groote Schuur’€™s medical centre for private patients is planning to open its doors in January next year while similar plans at Tygerberg Hospital have been put on hold.

The University of Cape Town signed an agreement with a German partner, Rhoen-Klinikum earlier this year, to open a new UCT Medical Centre in Groote Schuur Hospital.

The Centre will cater for people who are employed, but who have no medical insurance or limited cover, while also providing a platform for teaching and research in medicine at UCT.

Last week Medi-Clinic announced that plans to establish a similar facility at Tygerberg hospital had been put on hold.

The agreement would have included Medi-Clinic, Tygerberg Hospital, the University of Stellenbosch and the Western Cape Provincial Administration.

The hospital would have had 124 beds and four operating theatres and would have targeted patients who earned between R2 000 and R4 000 per month.

UCT has negotiated a lease agreement with the Province for space in Groote Schuur for a 125-bed hospital.

The facility will accommodate:

* 100 beds in a medical ward and two surgical wards;

* 25 high and intensive care beds for both medical and surgical patients;

* A radiology and angiography suite;

* An outpatient area with at least eight consulting rooms and a number of minor procedure rooms for day cases;

* Four fully-equipped operating theatres.

The UCT Medical Centre will be self-contained on the hospital’s “D” level, with access to parking in Groote Schuur’s “J” zone parking area.

The Centre will employ both full-time and part-time professional staff on a salaried rather than a fee-for-service basis.

UCT has considered starting a private medical centre for some time, because of ongoing cuts in the provincial hospital budget, and the progressive closure of large areas of Groote Schuur Hospital.

“The budget cuts and closures have reduced the clinical platform available for teaching and research, which has historically formed the backbone of the partnership in health care delivery between UCT and the Provincial Administration,” said UCT Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dan Ncayiyana.

The budget cuts were in line with national policy, to achieve greater equity in the allocation of health care resources between provinces and to shift resources away from hospital care to primary care.

“We appreciate the reasons for the budget cuts,” Ncayiyana said.

“However, that has meant that Groote Schuur Hospital can no longer provide all the human and material resources needed for sophisticated medical training and research.

“We therefore decided to establish a world-class private clinic to provide specialised services the State can no longer afford, to retain key medical specialists for teaching and service, and to provide a platform for world-class teaching and research.”

Rhoen-Klinikum own and operate highly successful, private hospitals in the Germany, including a university hospital in Leipzig.

“The Centre will benefit from Rhoen-Klinikum’s experience in operating efficiencies, process design, staffing models and administrative skills, along with UCT’s well-established record in teaching and research in medicine,” Ncayiyana said.