Iron-ore miner Kumba Iron Ore has donated a newly upgraded surgical theatre at the Postmasburg Hospital to the Northern Cape Department of Health for the Tsantsabane community, thereby providing a major boost for public healthcare in the region.

The lack of a functioning theatre meant no surgical procedures could be performed at the Postmasburg hospital for the past 18 years. This meant that patients needing even minor surgeries would have to be transported to Kimberley or Upington, reducing the availability of emergency medical resources in the Tsantsabane municipal area, the company highlighted.

The new theatre will change this and will gradually introduce a range of surgical procedures in the coming months, Kumba said this week.

The new theatre is the result of a partnership between the Northern Cape Department of Health, the Tsantsabane local municipality and the Sishen Iron Ore Company (SIOC) community development trust.

Kumba’s Kolomela mine spent around R13-million on the upgrade, with SIOC contributing an additional R3-million.

Kolomela mine GM Tebogo Mushi said the theatre started doing cataract removals in mid-March as part of its first phase, before moving to more advanced procedures in the coming months. Phase 1 will include cataracts and male circumcision.

In Phase 2, the theatre will provide caesarean sections and other minor surgical procedures. Phase 3 will extend the range of procedures to sterilisations and general minor surgeries, with Phase 4 to provide orthopaedic surgeries.

“Only 24% of the people of Tsantsabane are members of a medical aid, which underscores the importance of public facilities in the area. This new theatre is just part of our commitment to building a sustainable community that will thrive long beyond the life of the mine. This is an important milestone in local healthcare, and we are privileged to be able to make this contribution to community health.”

The theatre project falls within the company’s community health facility standard and is an important milestone in local healthcare.

Building a more equitable healthcare system was part of the company’s DNA, and how it does business, said Kumba parent company Anglo American head of community health and wellbeing Dr Alexandra Plowright.

“It forms an integral part of Anglo American’s Sustainable Mining Plan. One of the plan’s main focus areas is to create thriving communities through better health, well-being, education and employment outcomes.

“We’ve got a long history of supporting major public health programmes to help improve the health of our employees and host communities. We’ve been running major health facilities around our operations over many decades, because good health and well-being are essential to building thriving communities and economies,” she said.

Meanwhile, the new theatre will capacitate the hospital and enhance public healthcare in Tsantsabane, said Northern Cape Health MEC Maruping Lekwene.

“Kumba and SIOC’s contribution is mammoth. We cannot quantify it in rands and cents. We appreciate your support from the bottom of our hearts,” he said.