Pretoria's new hospital

The Pretoria Academic Hospital is getting a new R440-million state-of-the-art facility. The new multi-level hospital building will have 832 beds, 22 operating theatres, 80 consulting rooms, 19 lifts and the largest kitchen in the country. There will be 3 600 staff members, including 420 doctors and specialists, and 1 230 nurses. The hospital will also accommodate clinical departments from the University of Pretoria, which had contributed 17% towards building costs. Construction on the building began before 1994 but the project was halted until 2001. Initial plans had involved building a 1200-bed hospital, but these were later amended. The building is 800m away from the 74-year-old building formerly known as the HF Verwoerd Hospital. The old hospital building will be converted into a 200-bed district hospital called Tshwane District Hospital.