The privately managed, government-funded Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital could be a model for the way hospitals in this country operate when national health insurance is rolled out. The hospital is due to open in Johannesburg in December next year.Yesterday, Mary-Jane Morifi, a member of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust, said: "Health Minister [Aaron] Motsoaledi is quite excited about this."He said: 'If you guys get this right, this might be the model for what you do in the rest of South Africa'."Morifi was speaking at the construction site of the hospital, near Wits University.The specialist referral hospital for severely ill children from Southern African Development Community countries, will have 200 beds. It will have an estimated annual R500-million operational and staff budget, which will be footed by the government.It will be run by a private management team accountable to the trust, which raised more than R700-million of the R1-billion needed for construction and equipment.The opening is planned for December, the month Mandela died.Mediclinic is being paid to help procure equipment.An executive team or private operators will be appointed and paid to manage the hospital.Private patients will be required to pay for treatment through their medical aid schemes. Poor patients will receive free treatment.Doctors and nurses will be hired by the government.The trust yesterday handed over a partially built structure on the hospital grounds to Ronald McDonald SA, which will transform it into accommodation for 28 mothers, or families, whose children are receiving treatment at the hospital. It will have 28 rooms with en-suite bathrooms, a kitchen and a meditation room.Ronald McDonald SA chairman Reggie Skhosana said that when his child was being treated at a hospital some years ago, he found a woman sleeping in the toilets.Her child was receiving treatment but she had nowhere to stay. The house would accommodate such people, he said...