The Gauteng Department of Health on Sunday revealed that Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) has more than 2 600 people on its waiting list for surgeries.
The department said the hospital was now using “various interventions to reduce long waiting times for surgical procedures”.
The interventions include opening a second theatre on Tuesdays and Fridays for cardiothoracic (heart, lungs, chest organs) surgeries.
“Patients who are due for smaller cases of plastic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic, paediatric and other general surgeries are referred to Bertha Gxowa District Hospital and those who are due for minor colorectal cases are referred to South Rand District Hospital every two weeks,” said the department.
“To date, there are 2 677 patients awaiting surgical procedures in various health categories at CMJAH.”
Reasons for long waiting times vary.
“These range from shortage of organ donors, insufficient theatre time and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, the fire at the hospital, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the department.
“To increase organ donation uptake, the hospital continues to conduct monthly education drives, as well as hosting online webinars about donor identification and donor management.
“These are part of efforts to increase the donor pool to include other regions such as the North West and Mpumalanga provinces.”
The department said CMJAH was also collaborating with the Nelson Mandela Children Hospital to increase the number of kidney transplants and the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University for the HIV-to-HIV kidney transplant programme.
The hospital was gutted by a fire last year in April, leaving critical units including oncology and the psychiatric departments unable to fully function.
“Moreover, the CMJAH is soliciting private-public partnerships to sponsor the training of surgeons in liver transplantation, as part of efforts to increase liver transplants in government facilities,” said the department.
