Hospital Visiting Hours South Africa

Hospital directoryLast verified 13 September 2026

Hospital visiting hours in South Africa are set by each hospital, and often by each ward, so there is no single national timetable. Public hospitals publish times through provincial health departments, while private groups such as Mediclinic, Life Healthcare, Netcare and Lenmed publish their own. Use this directory to find the visiting hours at the hospital you need, then confirm with the ward before you travel.

Find your hospital first: choose a hospital or guide below to get the most specific visiting information. Times on facility pages can differ from the general examples on this page.

Find Visiting Hours

Search by hospital name, town or group. Each hospital page lists the visiting hours we could verify from an official source, the date we last checked, and what you still need to confirm with the facility.

If you already know the type of facility, start with the public hospital visiting hours directory for provincial, regional, district and academic hospitals, or the private hospital visiting hours directory for private clinics and hospitals. You can also browse by group: Mediclinic, Netcare, Life Healthcare, Lenmed, Melomed, Busamed, Akeso, Cormed, Clinix and Intercare. Looking by area instead? Try Gauteng hospitals or hospitals near me.

Popular Hospitals

These are the hospital pages visitors look for most often. The list below updates as new facility pages are published.

Facility pages for this section are being verified and will appear here as they are published. In the meantime, use the hospital visiting hours directory.

Other frequently searched hospital pages:

  • Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Victoria Mxenge (King Edward VIII) Hospital, King Dinuzulu (King George V) Hospital, Addington Hospital, RK Khan Hospital, Victoria Hospital Tongaat, Ethekwini Hospital, Westville Hospital, St Augustine Hospital, Chatsmed Hospital
  • Entabeni Hospital, Mount Edgecombe Hospital, City Hospital Durban, Kingsbury Hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital, Steve Biko Hospital, Tembisa Hospital, Milpark Hospital
  • Unitas Hospital, Sandton Clinic, Donald Gordon Hospital, Garden City Hospital, Linksfield Hospital, Morningside Hospital, Wilgers Hospital, Eugene Marais Hospital, Groenkloof Hospital, Midstream Hospital
  • Tygerberg Hospital, Somerset Hospital, Karl Bremer Hospital, Paarl Hospital, Panorama Hospital, N1 City Hospital, Constantiaberg Hospital, Vincent Pallotti Hospital, Kloof Hospital, Livingstone Hospital
  • Greenacres Hospital, St Georges Hospital, Polokwane Provincial Hospital, Bay Hospital, Pixley Hospital, Crompton Hospital, Medforum Hospital

Visiting Hours by Hospital Type

Visiting hours at a provincial, regional or district hospital are decided by that hospital and its provincial health department. When we checked official pages, the patterns varied widely. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health lists Addington Hospital visiting hours as Monday to Sunday 14:00–15:00 and 19:00–20:00, while its Port Shepstone Hospital page lists “current / temporary” visiting hours of 11:00–12:00 and 18:00–19:00, with the labour and maternity ward at 14:00–16:00. In Gauteng, the Department of Health announced that Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital moved to daily visiting from 13:00–15:00, including weekends, from 1 September 2025.

Private hospitals set times per group and per facility. Mediclinic’s national patient information page describes managed flexible visiting from 09:00–20:00 with a resting period from 13:00–15:00, and says individual hospitals may change this. Life Healthcare and Lenmed list times on each hospital’s own page, and these differ from one hospital to the next. See the public hospital directory and private hospital directory for more detail.

Hospital (example only)TypePublished visiting times
Addington Hospital, DurbanPublic (KZN Health)Monday–Sunday 14:00–15:00 and 19:00–20:00
Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic HospitalPublic (Gauteng Health)Daily 13:00–15:00, including weekends (from 1 September 2025)
Mediclinic hospitals (group guideline)PrivateManaged flexible visiting 09:00–20:00, rest period 13:00–15:00
Life Wilgers Hospital, PretoriaPrivateGeneral wards 11:00–12:00, 15:00–16:00 and 19:00–20:00
Sources: KZN Department of Health, Gauteng Department of Health, Mediclinic Southern Africa, Life Healthcare (checked 13 September 2026). These are examples, not a national standard.

Ward & Unit Visiting Hours

Visiting hours in a hospital often change by ward. Intensive care, high care, neonatal and maternity units usually have their own windows and stricter limits. For example, Life Wilgers Hospital lists its ICUs (including neonatal and paediatric) and high care at 15:00–16:00 and 19:00–20:00, with two family members per patient and no children under 12. The same page allows birthing partners in the labour and maternity unit from 09:00–20:00. Lenmed’s Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre lists NICU and PICU visiting at 15:00–17:00 daily.

Read the ward guides before visiting a specialised unit:

Weekend & Public Holiday Guidance

Many official pages list visiting hours as “daily” or “Monday to Sunday”, which means weekend times are the same as weekdays. KZN Health’s Osindisweni Hospital page states that its visiting times apply every day, including weekends and public holidays. Most private hospital pages we checked, including Mediclinic’s group guideline and several Life Healthcare hospital pages, do not list separate weekend or public holiday times. Where a page is silent, phone the ward before a Sunday or public holiday visit. Our weekend hospital visiting hours guide covers this in more detail.

Visitor Rules

Rules differ by hospital, but official sources we checked share common themes:

  • Visitor numbers: Mediclinic asks for no more than two visitors per bed in general and critical care units. Osindisweni Hospital allows three people at the bedside at a time.
  • Children: Lenmed’s patient and visitor handbook states that children under 12 may not visit. Osindisweni Hospital allows children under 12 in wards only with the sister in charge’s permission.
  • Infection control: Lenmed asks visitors not to visit when sick and to wash hands before and after visiting.
  • Clinical care comes first: Mediclinic notes that visitors may be asked to leave during procedures or when doctors speak to patients.

For the full checklist, read our hospital visitor rules guide. If you are visiting someone in custody rather than hospital, see prison visiting hours.

How to Verify Current Hours

  • Check the official hospital page. For private hospitals, look for the “Stay and Visit” or visiting hours section on the group website. For public hospitals, check the provincial health department’s facility page.
  • Do not confuse operating hours with visiting hours. Western Cape Government facility listings show hospitals such as Groote Schuur and Tygerberg as open “24h”. That is when the facility operates, not when you may visit.
  • Look for dates and labels. Some official notices are marked temporary or date from earlier periods, such as a Netcare Greenacres Hospital visitor notice dated April 2022.
  • Phone the ward or nurses’ station on the day, especially for ICU, maternity, isolation wards or critically ill patients.

Ready to plan your visit? Choose a hospital or guide to get the most specific visiting information, and confirm times with the ward before you travel.

Related Visiting Hours Guides

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the visiting hours at a general hospital in South Africa?

There is no single national time. Each general hospital sets its own visiting hours, and wards such as ICU and maternity often differ. Look up the specific hospital and confirm with the ward.

Do hospitals have visiting hours on weekends?

Many do. Official pages for hospitals such as Addington (Monday to Sunday) and Chris Hani Baragwanath (including weekends) show weekend visiting. Always check the specific hospital, because some pages do not mention weekends at all.

Sources & Last Verified

Last verified: 13 September 2026.