Filling the new Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital with expertise
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” These were the words of Madiba himself, Nelson Mandela, in 1995, when he launched the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.In December, 2016, construction of his namesake children’s hospital in Johannesburg was complete, and medical equipment installed. The next chapter for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital (NMCH) is filling it with expertise, to make it a humming hospital that delivers world-class care to the children and families of Southern Africa. Key to this is technical assistance on the recruitment and training of essential operational and clinical staff, establishment of governance and management structures, and the sharing of clinical and research expertise. In this, Global Affairs Canada is a key funding partner.
“The hospital will provide world-class, cutting edge health care..."
Another key SickKids partner in providing capacity-building support to NMCH as it gets up and running is the Kadey Family Charitable Trust. A generous gift from the Trust establishes the SickKids-Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Training Initiative, covering the entire cost of training and education programs for medical fellowships, nurses, allied health professionals and Child Life specialists at the new hospital.
What does this mean for the hospital, and the children of South Africa? Here’s what the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, Sibongile Mkhabela, says: “This hospital was a promise we made, and thanks to strategic planning and efforts of our team, working side-by-side with our partners from SickKids, we have been able to come together as a global community and realize Madiba’s dream, for all of the children of Southern Africa. We had the vision, and the support of our community. Now, we have been able to fill some gaps in our expertise, so that the hospital, which will be officially opening for patients later this year, will provide world-class, cutting edge health care to the children that need it most.”
