Vanguard Stocks Pretoria Hospital

Heavy rigging specialist, Vanguard, is wrapping up a six month project for the Pretoria Academic Hospital. Vanguard has transported, delivered and positioned all the major medical equipment required for the new hospital including all specialised equipment such as CT scanners, MRI machines, gamma cameras, cath labs, and screening tables.

Vanguard was responsible for taking custody of the equipment from various ports and airports, transporting it to site, and rigging into position. Vanguard also provided warehousing for various machines if the rooms were not ready.

According to Steve Francis, Manager, Vanguard Medical Division, equipment could only be delivered once there was a place for it.

“This was especially important due to the specialised nature of the sensitive machines, like the MRI and CT Scanners. Careful planning was needed to ensure that they were stored, transported and set in position correctly,” says Francis.

“The MRI machines, for example, are equipped with liquid helium which is contained in a vacuum sealed unit. Liquid helium, used for cooling, is expensive in South Africa so the machines are filled and air freighted from Europe. The machines are extremely expensive and are made to order. If the vacuum seal should break or any part of the machine gets damaged, there is a long delay while a new machine is made and resent. Therefore, transport, storage and installation needs to be undertaken with the utmost care and professionalism.

“For the rigging of the MRI machine we used a boom truck and built platforms to manoeuvre the sensitive machine into place. Other machines, such as the CT scanner, required bridging structures to be secured into position, while other installations were straight forward and needed no periphery equipment.

“A major advantage of performing this job was that we were unhindered by staff, the public, and patients as the hospital had not yet been opened. It made the planning a lot easier knowing we had unrestricted access to the facility.”

Francis concludes that the project will be completed once the linear accelerators used for cancer treatment are delivered.

The hospital, previously known as H.F. Verwoerd Hospital, reopened in March this year after moving to new premises.