Nearly 3 000 wait for surgery
2008-05-06 19:15
Johannesburg - At least 2 759 patients are waiting for surgery at the Johannesburg Hospital, sometimes for as long as 12 months, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.
DA Gauteng spokesperson on health Jack Bloom said health MEC Brian Hlongwa revealed the figures in a written reply to his questions.
The figure stood at 2 759, he said.
Bloom said the figures kept on going up and until such time as the private sector was involved the number would keep on rising.
"Cataracts are the worst backlog, with 1 320 patients waiting to get operated on to restore their sight," he said.
About 759 patients are waiting for operations in the orthopaedics department - this include 298 who need hip operations, and 213 for knee surgery.
And 100 patients needed heart surgery, and 100 children were waiting for paediatric surgery.
Bloom said according to the Gauteng Health Department, the backlogs were caused by increased patient loads, and the high number of trauma cases which took precedence.
The Gauteng Health Department's spokesperson Zanele Mngadi confirmed the figures as correct.
Johannesburg Hospital chief executive officer, Sagie Pillay, said they had been allocated an additional R6m to alleviate the backlogs and they were also looking at transferring patients who did not need complex surgery to the other hospitals.
An additional 14 beds had been placed at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to cater for patients needing care after surgery.
He explained that patients needing emergency surgery were attended to first, as those on the waiting list were not at risk.
He said the other factor was a skills shortage, as most surgeons were attracted to the private sector.
- SAPA