CB20: Baragwanath

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟲 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮. A story that united a country on the edge: Conjoined at the head and sharing a critical vein, twins Mpho and Mphonyana Mathibela were born in Johannesburg in the late 1980s. Specialists gave them a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the complicated surgery needed to separate them. But the 40-person medical team at the then-Baragwanath Hospital made history. The operation was long, intricate, and ground-breaking and had never been attempted in South Africa before. Decades later, we catch up with the Mathibela family and the medical team that gave a family and South Africa hope. Your favourite episodes are now available on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://bit.ly/PodcastCB

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟰 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮. Few would have predicted anything good could come of the Dihlabeng Regional Hospital when Carte Blanche investigated Free State health in 2015. Politically captured, corrupt, and in distress, Dihlabeng was dying, causing immense suffering for patients in need. Medication stock-outs, dysfunctional infrastructure, and a desperate staff shortage meant it couldn’t run its mandated 24-hour service. Today, thanks to leadership, teamwork and a never-say-die attitude, the hospital is back from the brink – fighting, one patient at a time, to restore the public’s confidence. Equally inspiring, we visit the Speech Therapy and Audiology Department at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital that – far from cutting back services when lockdown came – accelerated and expanded its services. Do these stories of everyday heroes doing their jobs well offer a blueprint for fixing public health? Your favourite episodes are now available on Carte Blanche: The Podcast: https://linktr.ee/carteblanchetv

A special broadcast from Durban, where things will never be the same at King Edward VIII Hospital. That’s thanks to BHP Billiton and the Carte Blanche Making a Difference campaign who have handed over to the Department of Health a brand new hospital, financed by the private sector. It began in 2008 as an idea to celebrate Carte Blanche’s 20th birthday and it became a campaign bigger than anyone ever imagined. Aired on 10 June 2012.

Thank you to the Bartsch Architects team for their continued support of the Carte Blanche Making A Difference Trust over the years.