Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is a hospital in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, it is the largest hospital in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and third largest hospital in the world. It has 6,760 staff members, 3,400 beds and occupies . The hospital is located in the

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

area south of Johannesburg. It is one of the 40

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

provincial hospitals, and is financed and managed by the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health. It is a

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

for the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

Medical School, along with the

Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital is an accredited general hospital in Parktown, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Size and capability The main structure was opened in 1979. The facility has 1,088 usable beds. The hospital's ...

Helen Joseph Hospital Helen Joseph Hospital is a public hospital based in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to 1997, it was known as the J.G. Strijdom Hospital. As a teaching hospital, its affiliated to the University of Witwatersrand's Medical School. H ...

and the

Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital is a maternity hospital in Coronationville, Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to 2008, it was known as the Coronation Hospital. History The hospital was opened in October 1944 in the suburb of Coronationvil ...

. It is an accredited Level one

trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major trauma, major traumatic injuries such as Falling (accident), falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma cent ...

currently led by Trauma Surgery Consultant, Dr Riaan Pretorius. The hospital has world class

trauma Trauma most often refers to: * Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source * Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic i ...

and

emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsche ...

facilities capable of all medical treatment.

History

The

Imperial Military Hospital, Baragwanath The Imperial Military Hospital, Baragwanath, was a British military hospital built near Johannesburg, South Africa, during the Second World War. After the war it was purchased by the South African government and became one of the biggest hospitals ...

, was built in what today is Diepkloof in 1942 for convalescing British and Commonwealth soldiers. Field Marshal

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

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 largest hospital in the southern hemisphere. In 1997 another name change followed, with the sprawling facility now known as

Chris Hani Chris Hani (28 June 1942 – 10 April 1993), born Martin Thembisile Hani , was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a fierce ...

Baragwanath Hospital in honour of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

leader who was assassinated in 1993.

Admissions and operations

More than two thousand patients check into the hospital's specialised clinics and out-patient departments daily, from catchment areas as far as

Klerksdorp Klerksdorp () is located in the North West Province, South Africa. Klerksdorp, the largest city in the North West Province, is located southeast of Mahikeng, the provincial capital. Klerksdorp was also the first capital of the then Transvaal Repub ...

. In 2022 the hospital was over R66 million in arrears with its bills for

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

services.

References

External links

University
of Witwatersrand.
Just Another Day at the World's Biggest Hospital
on NPR's ''All Things Considered,'' 1 December 2003. Includes an audio report and a flash presentation.
Baragwanath History in South Africa
The Baragwanath family history in South Africa.

TV documentary on the trauma unit by Aljazeera English. 9 January 2009. {{Authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1941 1941 establishments in South Africa Teaching hospitals in South Africa Buildings and structures in Soweto Hospitals established in 1941 University of the Witwatersrand Hospitals in Johannesburg