Gift of the Givers supplies medical equipment and medical supplies in disaster relief areas and on an ad-hoc basis, on request.
GF Jooste Hospital This hospital serves 1.3 million people in the Western Cape. It has the largest drainage area in the province in terms of the number of people it serves and this is the poorest segment of the population in the Western Cape, including Manenberg, Langa, Gugulethu, Heideveld and a range of other areas. These areas have the highest incidence of TB in the world. HIV, child abuse, drug abuse and rape is very common in this impoverished population many of whom live below the bread line. Gift of the Givers' donation of a R1 million, state-of-the-art ultrasound machine to the hospital is the beginning of a long, enduring partnership with a hospital and a management team showing great initiative, commitment and dedication to service directed towards the poorest of the poor. The donation was officially handed over in October 2008. It has a cardiac scanning facility and is one of the most advanced machines of its kind in any hospital in the Western Cape region. More assistance will be granted on a yearly basis according to the most pressing needs of the hospital. GF Jooste Hospital gets R1m ultrasound machine By Dr Ahmed Adam, Senior Medical Superintendent
Background GF Jooste Hospital (GFJ), located in Manenberg, Cape Town, was commissioned in 1996 as an acute hospital, serving the adult population of Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain, Gugulethu and Manenberg. The hospital is a 184-bed facility. The major disciplines are Internal Medicine and General Surgery.
Ultrasound Machine An ultrasound machine (valued R1 million) was donated to the hospital by Gift of the Givers in October 2008. There was a great need for this machine in our area as GFJ serves the poorest communities in Cape Town and patients had to be referred to other hospitals for scans as the previous older one was failing, was not fast enough and could only do limited scans.
One of the usages of this machine is to detect disseminated Tuberculosis (TB) whereby it can be diagnosed early so patients can be treated early and recover. Secondly it will be used for 1st trimester pregnancies as well as for other detection of ailments such as those in the pancreas and kidneys ailments. We are very pleased with the new machine as more patients can be reached and the machine can distinguish between fluids and masses (growths) and can pick up more pathology.
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