Nursing College at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

About Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the largest hospital in Africa and the third largest in the world, occupying around 173 acres (0.70 km²), with approximately 3,200 beds and about 6,760 staff members. The facilities are housed in 429 buildings with a total surface area of 233,795 m². Located in the Soweto area, South of Johannesburg, it is one of the 40 Gauteng provincial hospitals, and is financed and managed by the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health.

The story of Bara started soon after the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. The Imperial Military Hospital, Baragwanath, was built in what today is Diepkloof in 1942 for convalescing British and Commonwealth soldiers. Field Marshal Jan Smuts noted during the opening ceremonies that the facility would be used for the area’s black population after the war. In 1947, King George VI visited and presented medals to the troops there. From this start grew Baragwanath Hospital (as it became known after 1948), reputedly the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere. In 1997, another name change followed, with the sprawling facility now known as Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in honor of the South African Communist Party leader who was assassinated in 1993.

Chris Hani Baragwanath is a microcosm of what is happening in South Africa. The stresses of the broad social, economic and political changes in the RSA are reflected here. Just like the Phoenix on the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital coat of arms the hospital also rises out of its own ashes every time.

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is a teaching hospital for the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, along with the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital.

This site’s purpose is to make the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital easy to find and contact and to give the visitor the most important information about it (not managed by the government).

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital strives to:

• Achieve the highest level of patient care based on sound scientific principles and administered with empathy and insight.
• Train its work corps to be the best equipped and motivated to serve the sick and injured.
• Maintain and defend truth, integrity and justice for all times, to the benefit of patients, staff and the community.

More than 2,000 patients check into the hospital’s specialized clinics and outpatient departments daily, from catchment areas as far as Klerksdorp. Approximately 70% of all admissions are emergences, including approximately 160 victims of gunshot wounds per month. Accident, emergency and ambulance represent the busiest services, counting over 350 daily patients. Every year, about 150,000 in-patient and 500,000 out-patient cases are registered.

The Department of Ophthalmology, the St John Eye Hospital, has 111 beds and counts about 50,000 patients per year. Approximately 60,000 patients per year are treated in the Maternity Hospital.

Nursing College at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

In 1985, an agreement was signed between the University of the Witwatersrand, and the department of Hospital Services. This provided for the university to supervise matters pertaining to academic standards in the training of nurses. At present the four year basic course is offered within the framework of this association.

This agreement also set up the structure for control of the college activities by two bodies:

• The College Council
• The College Senate

The College Council, which includes members of the public, deals with aspects such as budgeting, physical facilities, posts, disciplinary matters and service conditions. The College Senate is concerned with academic matters.

The college offers the following courses:

• Four year diploma in nursing, which include General, Psychiatric, Community Health and Midwifery Nursing Science
• Two year course for Pupil Enrolled Nurses
• Post Basic Nursing Science Courses, which include: One year Midwifery course, advanced Diploma in Midwifery and Neonatal Nursing Science, Community Health, Ophthalmology, Child Nursing, Critical Care, Orthopedics, Operating Room Technique, Renal, Trauma, Palliative, Oncology, and Primary Health Care.

The college has offered its physical facilities to the community to conduct an education program on Saturdays, known as SUPEDI (Supplementary Education Program). This is a non-profit community based program upgrading Grade 1-7 Soweto pupils in English and Mathematics.

The college also serves as a venue for continuing education programs, run by the hospital, local authority clinics and the community.

The college is capable of handling about 1,500 students per annum. However, due to financial constraints, only around 100 new nursing students are allowed on intake per year, which had reduced the number of trainees to approximately 800 annually.

The available facilities at the college are:

• A library and a study area specifically designed for students who wish to view audio-visual programs individually
• An audio-visual department equipped with basic audio-visual equipment, for the enhancement of learning and teaching
• An auditorium with a capacity for over 300 people, which is utilized by both college and hospital staff
• Computers for students

Join Nursing College at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

For anyone considering getting quality training in a nursing college, Baragwanath Hospital’s Nursing College is an excellent one to consider. The practical experience that students will be exposed to is not provided anywhere other than that at Baragwanath Hospital. In addition, the learning environment at Baragwanath Hospital’s Nursing College is an outstanding place.

As any other college, the Nursing College at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has set up certain requirements for candidates to fulfil. Keep in mind that all nursing colleges under the Gauteng Government have the same terms as far as their admission processes are concerned. Therefore, the minimum requirements for those who wish to be admitted to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital include the following:

• You must not be more than 35 years of age
• If you are a learner in Grade 12, you will be required to calculate your Admission Point Score (APS) using your Grade 11 results to confirm whether you meet the minimum APS requirement of 25 or not
• If you meet the APS requirement, you will be required to go through an assessment before you can be invited to an interview
• You will be required to go through medical surveillance to ascertain your fitness.

To learn more, please refer to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital’s official website. Search for other available opportunities at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital here.