First 20 US-donated ventilators installed at Baragwanath hospital in Soweto | News24

A general view of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg.

• Twenty ventilators have been donated to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
• The donation forms part of a USA government initiative that will lead to the donation of 1 000 ventilators.
• The hospital will also receive more beds for Covid-19 patients.

The first 20 ventilators which will form part of a total donation of 1 000 ventilators from the US government, have been installed at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.

At a ceremony at the hospital on Saturday, US Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks said South Africa was the first country to receive ventilator donations from the United States Agency for International Development.

She added that not only were the ventilators a gift to the people of South Africa, but also to healthcare workers responding to the global pandemic.

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Currently, the hospital has just over 200 beds dedicated to the Covid-19 response, Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku said, with cases being handled in the obstetrics wards.

He added that 12 babies had been born to Covid-19-positive mothers and there was one fatality among them.

The hospital is expected to see a 500-bed increase, Gauteng Premier David Makhura said.