JSE-listed Afrox planned to invest more than R150-million at hospital sites in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the North West to upgrade the company’s service facilities, Afrox healthcare head Joseph Ramashala confirmed last week.
This is part of the company’s investment strategy to deliver on the State healthcare tender to supply hospitals and clinics across nine provinces awarded to Afrox.
To meet demand for what is expected to be thousands of extra tonnes of medical gases under the new State healthcare contract, the company is also looking at opening new medical filling facilities in Klersksdorp, Kimberley and possibly Newcastle, as well as upgrading its Bloemfontein and Germiston sites.
The R150-million investment will result in the installation of 62 new bulk tanks and the roll-out of a fleet of 40 000 cylinders by February.
Additionally, two new compact rigid bulk tankers will be bought to enable safe deliveries to hospitals with limited access, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.
Plans are also in place to offer State hospitals the new integrated medical gas control valve, and deliveries are expected to start arriving in South Africa in early 2019.
Afrox now supplies more than 400 hospitals and 1 600 clinics across South Africa.