New acting hospital manager for Crestcare Zoutpansberg

The Crestcare Zoutpansberg Private Hospital in Louis Trichardt has come under new management with the appointment of Mr Kobus Nel as acting hospital manager. He took over last week from Ms Anneke Stroebel, who has been part of the hospital’s history for almost two decades now.

“As a hospital for the community, we want to reach out more to the community to tell more of what we do and the services we offer,” Nel said during an interview on Monday. He has been in the medical field for more than 20 years, which was born out of his love for scuba diving. His interest in scuba diving led him to become a scuba-diving instructor. As part of this, he had to acquire sound medical and first-aid knowledge. “You need to be prepared for any medical situations or emergencies,” he said. Later on, Nel qualified himself as a rescue diver and a first-aid and CPR instructor.

Despite all this training, Nel wanted more. “I then trained as a paramedic working on an ambulance in the Johannesburg area. I did this part-time while working as a lecturer at Wits Technikon as a qualified electronic engineer,” said Nel. The subject he taught was microprocessor design.

Nel was, however, so fascinated with the ambulance and emergency services that he got involved with Netcare 911 over the next couple of years. At Netcare 911, Nel worked at the call centre, and from there he was promoted to regional technical manager for the whole KwaZulu-Natal area. He said that although he had never really wanted to study in a medical direction, his exposure to the medical world and his interest in it had automatically transitioned him into his medical career.

After being promoted to regional technical manager, Nel was promoted to hospital manager in the Netcare group. After a few years at The Bay Hospital in Richards Bay, and after getting married, Nel was offered a position in Turkey as a lecturer in mathematics and physics. He spent the next almost seven years in Turkey as a lecturer. “While I was there, I studied clinical engineering,” Nel said.

Returning to South Africa as a clinical engineer, Nel became involved with the medical-equipment industry. Through this, his relationship with the Crestcare group started as a member of the post-commissioning equipment team for the Crestcare Zoutpansberg Private Hospital. “I was given an opportunity within the Crestcare group. I did consultations for other hospitals also. At present, my title in the Crestcare company is Group Hospital Transformation Manager,” said Nel. He explained that the transformation aspect of his title focuses on improving patient care and efficiency towards a more community-oriented service.

As for his appointment at the Crestcare Zoutpansberg Hospital, Nel pointed out that his appointment as acting hospital manager was only temporary. He said that he would only act until a new hospital manager was appointed.

On a personal level, Nel is married to British-born wife Melissa, and the couple have two adult children. At present, Melissa is in England visiting their daughter, following the birth of their first grandchild about two months ago.

Date:26 April 2024

By: Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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