Paarl Hospital’s emergency unit received a boost in serving patients of the Drakenstein Valley. This is all possible as a result of the assistance provided by the non-profit organisation Sponsor Medic, which will sponsor the services of a locum doctor.
Sponsor Medic was recently established to provide private and corporate donors a way of investing in a healthier South Africa and to use donations to employ locum health-care workers for understaffed public facilities that need them.
Paarl Hospital, like all other public-health facilities, has felt the pressure of budget and resource constraints that also had a direct impact on waiting times in our emergency centre, especially after hours and over weekends.
Thanks to an anonymous donation made to Sponsor Medic, Paarl Hospital will benefit from an additional doctor on call in the emergency centre once a week for the remainder of 2024.
The sponsored locum doctor in the emergency centre will working at one of the busiest times of a typical week, namely Saturday evenings.
Dr Juandré Klopper, co-founder of Sponsor Medic, said the additional doctors’ shift will be used on Saturday evenings, one of the busiest times in the emergency centre. “I know first-hand how busy Paarl Hospital gets over weekends. We are hoping an additional set of qualified hands will help to reduce waiting times over weekends for our patients and our doctors on call can feel supported too.”
Mireille Wenger, Western Cape MEC for Health and Wellness, said: “The partnership between Paarl Hospital’s emergency unit and Sponsor Medic will no doubt have a very positive impact on the community of Drakenstein.”
Dr Aziz Parker, Head of the emergency centre at Paarl Hospital, said that his unit are mindful of the impact budget constraints have on service delivery and gestures such as this really go a long way in boosting staff morale.
“Our staff experience the same frustrations that patients do when it comes to waiting times at our emergency centre, but we are limited in what we can do to address it,” he said. “I am grateful for the Sponsor Medic partnership, which will ultimately benefit the community of Drakenstein.”
Individuals or corporate entities who are interested to support Sponsor Medic through donations, can visit their website at www.sponsormedic.co.za. “We hope more local businesses will become involved and donate toward Sponsor Medic’s efforts to support their local hospitals,” Klopper said.
