‘Hospital of death’: North West residents would rather die at home than go to Gelukspan | News24

Gelukspan Hospital, once regarded as a rural health flagship, has been dubbed “the hospital of death” due to poor service delivery and ailing infrastructure. (Belinda Pheto/News24)

No operating theatre and no hospital kitchen – this is what has become of the hospital near Mahikeng, North West, once regarded as a flagship of rural healthcare.

When News24 visited the hospital last month, only a handful of patients were waiting at the casualty, there wasn’t a single patient in the maternity ward, and there were just a few people in the surgical wards. This is because locals call the institution the “hospital of death”. 

Nurses, who spoke to News24 on condition of anonymity, said the hospital did not have a kitchen because a contractor who was supposed to upgrade it, destroyed it in 2022.