Ops cancelled at Joburg hospital

22 September 2019

All non-emergency surgery was cancelled at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital last week on Thursday because of a shortage of basic medical supplies.

More than 20 patients were told that their operations could not go ahead as scheduled.

There has been a problem for some weeks with procurement at this hospital.

The shortages of essential medical equipment for surgery includes suction catheters, oropharyngeal airways, laryngeal masks, arterial line transducer, suture dressings and the correct size gloves.

Medical staff often have to borrow equipment from other hospitals. Some elective surgery went ahead on Friday because supplies were taken from the Helen Joseph Hospital.

It is shameful that doctors at a major hospital cannot do their jobs because basic medical supplies are short, with patients suffering as a result.

Government plans for a grandiose National Health Insurance (NHI) will go nowhere if simple things cannot be fixed in our public hospitals.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 22 September 2019