This hospital closed the day after Christmas in 1996 and has stood vacant ever since. Now 21 years on there is little hope of it being revamped. The estimated costs is R244 million and the government has delayed it for more than 3 years now.The Department of Health for Gauteng had intentions of starting the building in March 2013 to the 9 storey building. This hospital with the capacity of more than 300 beds is now an over grown, building with broken windows and many stories attached to it.
The Kempton Park / Kyalami hospital was built and officially opened in 1978. Some say it was 1976.
I entered at the service entrance where my guide walked us through the dilapidated out buildings that were once used for the washing of linen etc . Now the security staff live here and the two footpaths are worn with the with the same route being walked daily. There is no electricity on the premisses so the guards make use of other methods for lighting and warmth. In 2016 a new fence was put up to enclose the building and keep out vagrants, ghost hunters and other undesirables.
We walked up to the first building where our introduction to the hospital was the chilling morgue. With its large broken slab in the middle of the room and 12 holding chambers that have had their doors removed over the years we were left wondering how many people had passed through here.
Feeling slightly unnerved we moved onto the operating theatres, in complete darkness we used the lights on cell phones to help us stumble over broken glass and rubble lying all over. The large operating lights lay sadly on the ground, broken and forlorn I can only imagine the lives they lit up as they assisted in saving many lives years ago.
Slowly we weaved our way to the wards, the nurses station still has the lables on the doors written in Afrikaans.One recovery trolley can still be seen and some patient files lay scattered on the floors with years of dust of trodden on them. Most items have been stollen over time or been left to rust.
The small snack bar at the entrance of the hospital has the signs for The Star newspaper up on the boards. We made our way down other gloomy passages and stumbled across an abandoned wheelchair leaning precariously against a wall as if hanging on for life waiting in vain for someone to rescue it.
Walls are covered in graffiti, random chairs lay scattered around and the wall panel that once housed the public phone is still there with the phone number 393-1376. As i was walking out to go and see the children’s section iI spotted a black board with writing on it from a staff meeting , it has never been cleaned . It reads “ in future we must organise some heaters for our new staff members “ reading this I wondered if it was meant for hospital staff for the security staff. An old patient file lies on the table near the board.
In the courtyard another old wheelchair can be found, sitting alone through all weather conditions , 21years on it still looks good despite the torn fabric. I walked through the long grass and entered the children’s section, the pine ceiling is in perfect condition and a couple of cartoon characters are on the glass windows. A bright room it must have been a happy haven for children recovering from illness or operations in its hey day.
There is a lot to see here and one could spend hours walking around and taking photos and maybe even hope to get a chill down your spine. I didn’t have any paranormal experiences but then again they say its more likely to happen at night. Lets hope that one day the eery hall ways will be filled with the sounds of patients and hospital staff again.
