|
MPUMALANGA
TONGA
HOSPITAL
updated Feb 2009
 Location
Tonga hospital was opened 1999 and opened in phases. It was built in Tonga village in Nkomazi district of Mpumalanga near the Komati river. It is in the tourist district known as the 'Wild Frontier'. It is situated in the Lowveld south of Kruger National park, west of Mozambique, north of Swaziland and east of Malalane and Shongwe Mission hospital. The road is tar all the way with potholes only on the last kilometer.
Staffing and medical facilities
 It currently has 14 full time doctors (SMO, PMO, and CMOs incl. medical manager) and around 160 beds with capacity for around 250 beds. We have 15 community service doctor posts. We have a well designed, air conditioned casualty and OPD. The latter has 4 full time doctors and sees around 100 to 150 patients Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The other 2 days are designated theatre days. Dr Mochaoa has a diploma in anaesthetics and uses theatre days to train doctors to do general anaesthesia. One doctor visits the 2 community health centres on theatre days. One doctor is allocated to paediatrics ward and paeds OPD which runs on OPD days.  Maternity sees about 360 deliveries per month with a 10 % caesar rate. The postnatal ward has some female surgical patientsas well as a nursery with 3 incubators and Kangaroo Mother Care. We have designated nursery, surgical and high care wards but these are not yet open due to staffing levels. Male medical ward caters for surgical patients as well. We are getting a consultant visit from Nelspruit for orthopaedics and hope to get the paediatrician from  Themba Hospital to do some teaching. Our referral hospitals are Rob Ferreira and Themba in Nelspruit then Witbank then Steve Biko Academic in Pretoria. We work well as a team and benefit from daily team meetings during the week to discuss patients admitted on call. We usually do anaesthetics or ward calls during the week while sessional doctors cover casualty. On weekends 2 doctors split their 24 hours in casualty while one covers wards. All 3 go to theatre for caesars. We seldom go over 80 hours overtime per month. One can study Family Medicine under the supervision of Dr Tiamiyu and Pretoria University. This is a 4 year registrar programme started in 2009.
Accommodation
 Accommodation for staff is good. There are 56 houses on the property. There are 1, 2 and 3 bedroom semi-detached units. They have mosquito netting on the windows but no ceiling fan. Buying your own fan (or better still a portable air con unit) will help for summer. We do see malaria patients but usually they have travelled in Mozambique. We don’t take prophylaxis on the property. Although we are in the 'red zone' for malaria it is rare to see staff with it. Fast internet access is a challenge. So far the best option is to buy an antenna to amplify the signal from the Mzinti cell phone tower. It has 3G and sometimes HSDPA. Our plan is to get our local tower upgraded to 3G so you don’t have to buy an antenna. Telkom can install ISDN line.
Recreation
  
For recreation there is a braai area, lapa and swimming pool and tennis court. There is a gym at the Malalane golf club. One can jog around the soccer field or amongst the houses. Some people cycle. For mountain biking it best to drive to the farm areas 15 mins away. To see Tonga on the map google ‘Tongwe South Africa’ (it is spelled wrong) or find Mzinti on Google Earth. We are east of Mzinti across the Komati river. Places to visit are Kruger Park. Can stay over in Skukuza and Lower Sabie and the camp near Malalane gate. Big 5 and stunning variety of bird life can be seen. Kruger Malalane gate and Crocodile gate both around 30 mins away as are Mozambique Lebombo border on N4 and Mananga gate into Swaziland also 30 mins away. Jeppes Reef border to the Piggs Peak and Mbabane side of Swaziland is 40 mins away. You pass Shongwe hospital en route. Shopping - small shops in Tonga. Take aways is braaied chicken and mielies and vetkoek. Naas has banks, Spar Pharmacy and Pick n Pay and KFC at the newly built complex opened Oct 2008. Road there has some potholes but is only 10 mins drive from hospital. Malalane 35 mins drive away has more variety. An excellent Spar and good clothing shops
and Steers, Debonairs and Something Fishy. Spar also makes pizza. Restaurants are The Deck and Pestana which both have a view of the Crocodile River. You can see crocodiles from Pestana and elephant grazing meters away at The Deck. Both have a swimming pool. Other good restaurants are Crocofellas and Hamiltons next to Pestana and Leopard Creek on the Malalane Gate road. Crocofellas has its own resident crocodiles in the pool. The restaurant is built on stilts over the water. Hamiltons has the mist spray system for hot days. For a mall shopping and movie experience the nearest is Riverside Mall and the Crossing in Nelspruit. There are many hotels and bed and breakfast type accommodation around there. Casterbridge is also worth
a visit. It has life style shops and a vintage car museum not far past White River. There is so much good tourist orientated accomodation and places to go for weekends it is too much to mention. Not many areas of South Africa have such well developed eco - tourism. For the city
lovers, Joburg is 4 to 5 hours away on N4. Lydenberg route is best as it is more scenic and seems to have fewer bends. The best stop is at Millies - a garage about half way on the right while en route to Joburg. It has a restaurant next to a small lake and shops which sell very interesting snacks. A must see. Durban is 6 and half hours away if you drive through Swaziland. The road is good but not double carriageway like N4 Joburg. Churches are Baptist and Catholic in Malalane, Charismatic in Kamhlushwa and there is a mosque in Malelane as well. An informal home fellowship meets on a farm half way between Tonga and Malelane on Tuesday evenings. Shongwe people go as well.
  
For more information please contact
Dr Patrick Rogers on 0731923643 or
Dr Mampho Mochaoa on 0825301598.
Also check out the video clips of the hospital pool, tennis court and garden on YouTube.
There is also a clip of Google earth showing Tonga hospital on Satellite image. To see Tonga on the map google ‘Tongwe South Africa’ (it is spelled wrong) or find Mzinti on Google Earth.
|
STUDENT
ELECTIVES