- Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital
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Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the second largest hospital in the world after West China hospital of Medical Sciences, Sichuan University,[1] occupying 173 acres (0.70 km2), with 3 200 beds and 6 760 staff members. The hospital is in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, South Africa. (Soweto was a separate municipality from 1983 to 2002, when it was amalgamated to the City of Johannesburg.) It is one of the 40 Gauteng provincial hospitals, and is financed and run by the Gauteng Provincial Health Authorities. It is a teaching hospital for the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, along with the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital.
Contents
History
The Royal Imperial Hospital, Baragwanath, was built in what today is Diepkloof in 1941 for convalescing British and Commonwealth soldiers. John Albert Baragwanath owned a hostel, The Wayside Inn, from the late 19th century near the hospital's current location [1]. Field Marshal Jan Smuts noted during the opening ceremonies that the facility would be used for the area's black population after the war. In 1947 King George VI visited and presented medals to the troops there. From this start grew Baragwanath Hospital (as it became known after 1948), reputedly the world's largest hospital. In 1997 another name change followed, with the sprawling facility now known as Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in honour of the African National Congress leader who was assassinated in 1993 by extremists.
The name Baragwanath is of Cornish language origin, meaning "wheaten bread."
Daily admissions
More than two thousand patients check in to the hospital daily and nearly half of them are HIV positive[citation needed].
See also
References
- ^ radiodiaries entry on "Just Another Day at the World's Biggest Hospital"
External links
- University of Witwatersrand.
- Just Another Day at the World's Biggest Hospital on NPR's All Things Considered, December 1, 2003. Includes an audio report and a flash presentation.
- Baragwanath History in South Africa: The Baragwanath family history in South Africa.
- 24 hours of trauma TV documentary on the trauma unit by Aljazeera English. January 9 2009.
Coordinates: 26°15′45″S 27°56′23″E / 26.262438°S 27.93967°E
Categories:- Buildings and structures in Johannesburg
- Hospitals in South Africa
- Buildings and structures in Soweto
- Hospitals established in 1941
- Medical education in South Africa
- South African building and structure stubs
- African hospital stubs
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