A combined initiative between the European Union and eThekwini Municipality to address the health needs of people in the greater Durban region has resulted in the construction of the Cato Manor Health Centre.
The development is another feather in the cap of Cato Manor planners, who are fast transforming the area into a hive of informal business activity.
The roof wetting ceremony for the health centre, which will later be named the Umkhumbane Community Health Centre, took place last week.
It was a chance for everybody involved in the project to celebrate the centre, which will officially be handed over to the city's health department on Tuesday.
The 4 500m2 centre comprises a general and an ante-natal clinic, a 24-hour mid-wife obstetric unit, a pharmacy and emergency/referral, rehabilitation and dentistry departments.
There will be two community projects rooms intended to be used for health education initiatives and functions.
A number of NGOs and academic institutions were approached to contribute complementary services and, to accommodate the range of services to be provided, a number of multi-purpose rooms have been included in the design.
"Conceptually, the building is a series of services nodes arranged along a pedestrian 'street'. This street, filled with natural light and air as well as planted courtyards leading off it, is intended to provide a feeling of wellness," said Robert Johnson of Robert Johnson Architects and Associates who worked on the project in association with ZAI Architects.
"The project, initiated by the Cato Manor Development Consortium (CMDA), started in 1998. The EU had made R14.6 million available to build a community health facility in the Cato Manor central node.
"The building costs alone amounted to R20 million with the total cost of the project being about R24 million. Council contributed R9.4 million towards the project. This area was selected because it's easily accessible from the north, south and Maydon Wharf.
"This type of facility is really a referral centre for clinics. They ease the load of hospitals and provide services that clinics can't," he said.
Said Martin Kaplan, director: projects with the CMDA: "A health study done by the CMDA, which investigated existing health services and demographic data, identified requirements in the area as being about four clinics and a health centre for the greater Cato Manor area.
"Cato Manor has about 85 000 people and it's designed for a population of ultimately 130 000. So we looked at this as well as what facilities were already available to residents and surrounding residents. The idea is to bring in other institutions who will use spaces in the facility to provide complementary services, making it a vibrant facility offering a wide range of health care services," said Kaplan.
All unskilled labour and 50% of the skilled workers on the construction were drawn from the Cato Manor community.
"Part of the conditions of contract was the 100% use of general workers and 50% skilled workers were to be drawn from Cato Manor. There were other affirmative action goals that had to be achieved. The contract conditions covered the employment of local people to ensure job creation. All the subcontracts went out to tender with a targeted procurement policy in place," said Johnson.
The project is on the brink of completion, with only the landscaping and signs left to complete. - The Mercury
Publisher: The Mercury
Source: The Mercury
