OPS CANCELLED AGAIN AT HELEN JOSEPH HOSPITAL

It's too awful to be true but it is.

Surgery was halted yet again today at the Helen Joseph Hospital because a supplier had not been paid for the special paper in which instruments have to be sterilised.

About 12 operations had to be cancelled, including mastectomies for breast cancer. There have been numerous cancelled operations this year due to broken equipment and poor maintenance.

Last week one of the theatres had a leaking roof, and the air-conditioning also wasn't working. Earlier this year operations were cancelled because the boilers were down, and another time it was a lack of anaesthetic gas.

This is horribly stressful for both patients and staff. It's really pathetic. This hospital is falling apart because of many factors out of its control, including poor management by the Gauteng Health Department.

Someone should be fired.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, March 18 2011

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