Vastly different waiting times for surgery at Gauteng's Academic Hospitals

23 October 2019

There are currently 14 530 patients waiting for surgery at Gauteng’s four academic hospitals, but the numbers and waiting times vary widely.

This is revealed in my analysis of written replies by Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

The number of patients waiting for surgery at each hospital is as follows:

The largest disparity is for hip and knee operations, which differ as follows:

Waiting times for cataract surgery also differ widely - only 5 months at CMJH, 12 months at CHBH,  and two years at GMH.

I am concerned by the long surgery waiting lists and widely varying waiting times at Gauteng’s four top hospitals. Patients suffer tremendously when they have to wait unbearably long for operations.

These hospitals need to be properly resourced in order to drastically cut the huge surgery backlogs. If this can’t be done, then a fruitful partnership with the private health sector should be pursued.

The failure to efficiently run public hospitals places a major question mark over Government’s ambitious plans for National Health Insurance (NHI).

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 23 October 2019