Buckingham Road, Mount Croix
Page Creator: Straton Electrical
The Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital is situated on Buckingham Road, Mount Croix, Gqeberha.
Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital is a large Provincial government funded hospital situated in central Port Elizabeth in South Africa. It is a tertiary teaching hospital and forms part of the Port Elizabeth Hospital Complex.
The hospital departments include Emergency department, Paediatric ward, Maternity ward, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Out Patients Department, Surgical Services, Medical Services, Operating Theatre & CSSD Services, Pharmacy, Anti-Retroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV/AIDS, Post Trauma Counseling Services, Ophthalmology Out-patients Clinic, Occupational Services, X-ray Services, Physiotherapy, NHLS Laboratory, Oral Health Care Provides, Laundry Services, Kitchen Services and Mortuary.
History
After 1845 the talk around town was of establishing a hospital to serve the inhabitants.
Mr John Anderson became the champion of this cause after having formed a small committee under his chairmanship. This committee drafted drafted a scheme for the establishment of a charity to fund the building of a hospital.
Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Grey, assigned this committee a grant of ;and for a site and endowment for the proposed hospital adjoining the Grey Institute Lands.
The granted land extent was over eleven morgen (94 237 square meters) surrounded by Bird Street, Western Road and Pearson Street.
The site was divided up into lots and sold to the public at prices ranging from one to five pounds per lot.
The accommodation in the proposed hospital was to consist of two wards of 10 beds each and two wards to contain one bed each. Included were the usual administration accommodation, one wash house, two water closets and one dead house.
Mr Penketh's plan proposal was considered the most suitable after certain modifications to provide accommodation for nine male and eight female patients in the public wards and two private wards of one bed each plus the necessary administrative quarters.
The total cost of building and furnishing the hospital was estimated at two thousand pounds.
Consequently the committee was disbanded ahead of the next phase being a "Provincial Committee of Management" consisting of:
- J. Anderson
- J. Williams
- Capt. J. Hill
- W. Fleming
- J. Simpson
- H.S. van Ronn
- A. Ebden
- A. Wares
- F.D. Deare
- J.W. Kemp
- J. Perkins
The resolutions of the above committee were drafted in "An Act of Incorporation for Regulating the Provincial Hospital", passed by the government on 4 June 1856.
This Act gave voice to the appointment of a first "Board of Managers" represented by:
- Hon. W. Fleming
- Rev. J. Murphy
- Rev. J. Harsant
- A. Ebden
- J. {erkins
- D.P. Blaine
- A. Wares
- W.M. Harries
Together with the Municipal Commissioners and the above made for a board of 16 members.
From November 1855 until January 1857 a 'battle of the sites' raged fiercely.
Proposed sites included:
- Top and bottom of Cooper's Kloof, South End
- The present Drill Hall in Central
- The original site between Bird Street and Person Street.
Finally a site "situated on the Hill near the Gunpowder Magazine" to the North End of the town was selected.
The government granted land to the extent of just over one morgen (8 567 square meters) was granted.
Later an additional fourteen morgen of surrounding land was granted only to be sold to citizens at such a rapid rate that the hospital was once again reduced to the one morgen granted.
The new hospital was completed in 1858.
In the meantime, as a temporary measure, a house in Rodney Street consisting of six rooms and a kitchen, was obta ined at a rental of £4 per annum. It was placed in charge of an old Irish couple named O'Brien and during the period of building of the new hospital 250 cases were treated by Drs. Rubidge, Dunsterville and Ensor.
The first patient to be treated was a seaman from the brig Allies.
On the Richmond Hill the hospital expanded gradually and eventually accommodated 120 patients. Conditions in the hospital were far from satisfactory. Water-borne sewage was, strangely enough, to be found only in one ward and the House Surgeon's quarters. The excreta of the patients was discharged into a series of tubs placed in a court yard
The Annual Report of the Board for the year 1899 presented the patient ' statistics.
The principal diseases for which patients were admitted were:
| Disease | No. |
|---|---|
| Typhoid Fever | 138 |
| Dysentery | 77 |
| Phthisis | 81 |
| Alcoholism (including delirium tremens) | 117 |
| Acute rheumatism | 29 |
| Chronic rheumatism | 22 |
| Pneumonia | 42 |
| Violence, including fractures | 212 |
When this pioneer hospital in Rodney Atreet was vacated it was taken over by James Somers Kirkwood who converted it into an Auction Market.
In 1912 the late Sir Frederick de Waal laid the foundation stone of the present hospital, in Buckingham Road which then had plans to accommodate 444 patients.
After the opening of the present Provincial Hospital the original building was acquired by the Cape Education Department who converted it into a Junior School for Boys and Girls.
References
- Eastern Cape Provincial Hospitals
- Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days - JJ Redgrave
- Journals.co.za
