The City of Cape Town’s (COCT) Fire & Rescue Services are investigating the cause of a fire that broke out at the Groote Schuur Hospital on Tuesday, October 26. According to reports, the Fire & Rescue Service was alerted at approximately 2pm after smoke was coming from one of the buildings.
COCT Fire & Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse says upon arrival, thick plumes of smoke could be seen and firefighters wore self-contained breathing apparatus’ (SCBA) to work in the hazardous atmosphere.
Carelse mentioned that the location of the fire was close to the institutional side near a service lobby/storeroom area where only furniture and equipment was destroyed as well as damages to the internet lines and electrical equipment.
“Crews from Roeland Street, Salt River and Wynberg were on scene. Firefighters contained and extinguished the blaze at 15:17 and no injuries were reported,” Carelse said.
Principal Communications Officer at Groote Schuur Hospital, Alaric Jacobs, told Cape {town} etc that due to fire damage, residents might experience difficulty in reaching the hospital.
“Waiting times at the hospital are also affected and might be longer than usual.
“Your patience and understanding will be highly appreciated when trying to reach hospital staff. We are working on restoring the phone lines and emails as soon as possible,” Jacobs said.
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However, despite the incident, Groote Schuur Hospital became the first public hospital in the Western Cape to perform the Microwave Ablation (MWA) on patients. According to a statement by the Western Cape Government, this is a technique in which can be used to kill tumour cells.
“In this case heat energy in the form of microwaves via a special microwave machine and an applicator which is positioned in the tumour. Microwave Ablation can also be used in lung cancer cases on primary and secondary tumours of a certain size where patients are not able to undergo surgery,” the statement said.
Consultant Radiologist at the hospital, Dr Qonita Said-Hartley explained that the procedure is performed under Computed Tomography guidance using a special Microwave Ablation machine.
“The patient is put asleep using general anaesthesia. The lung cancer is located using Computed Tomography scanning and then a special applicator attached to the microwave machine is inserted into the tumour. The microwaves are emitted via the machine into the tumour for a few minutes depending on the size of the tumour and the frequency of the microwaves used,” Said-Hartley said.
The first patient treated using this technique was a 68-year-old Gladys Ganief who was referred with a history of previous lung resection for lung cancer as well as a history of previous renal cancer.
“This procedure I would do any day. Everything went so much quicker and there was no chest drains and Intensive Care stay,”Ganief added.
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Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery