The state-of-the-art primary health care facility currently under construction along Louis Botha Avenue will offer greatly improved health care services to residents of Orange Grove and neighbouring suburbs.
“It is one of the most important and exciting projects in the area, and I am very happy we are making wonderful progress,” said Shaakira Chohan, the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) development manager who is overseeing the project.
“We are very pleased that we are able to provide a facility that will meet the growing health care needs of the community,” she added.
Orchards Clinic is part of the City’s Corridors of Freedom initiative, which promotes integration between social amenities and residential development schemes along strategic high-mobility corridors.
The other three clinics that form part of the Corridors programme, in Westbury, Noordgesig and Esselen Street, Hillbrow, are all at various stages of construction.
WIDE RANGE OF SERVICES, NHI STANDARDS
Chohan said Orchards Clinic would play a vital role in the community and provide the City with a valuable health care resource.
“It is an unprecedented primary health care facility for the City in terms of scale and the accommodation that it will provide, as well as the large area that it will be serving.
“It is truly an effective showcase of the opportunities that the Corridors of Freedom programme will bring to the citizens of Johannesburg.”
The clinic will include 20 consulting rooms and emergency, antenatal, ARV and TB service facilities, office accommodation along with staff accommodation, a courtyard and parking area.
It is being built in line with National Health Core Standards and National Health Insurance (NHI) requirements, and will also accommodate Environmental Health Services.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FEATURES
The building will incorporate environmentally friendly features allowing for rainwater re-use, solar heating and maximal use of natural light and ventilation, as well as a vegetable garden.
It will be within easy reach of its target constituency, being located along the new Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route currently being built along Louis Botha Avenue, and close to the site of the nearest BRT station.
“I have every confidence that the people of Orange Grove will be equally pleased with the result when it opens next year,” Chohan said. “I think it will be well received and will serve a real need.”
The City allocated R40.5-million for construction of Orchards Clinic, with the contract being awarded to Fikile Construction. Work got under way last year and is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017.