Surgery overload awaits SA after lockdown

The healthcare industry may be under more strain once lockdown rules are relaxed, as surgery units may become overloaded.

The country is in the fourth week of the extended lockdown and the list of strict regulations to try to combat the spread of the coronavirus included the cancellation of elective surgeries.

This was done so hospitals could focus on emergency life-saving procedures and limit the number of patients.

It was also to limit the risk of elective surgery patients contracting the coronavirus while being admitted for procedures, said South African Medical Association (Sama) chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee.

Elective surgeries are procedures scheduled in advance, such as a hip or knee replacements, eye cataract procedures and cosmetic procedures, and those that can be delayed by other treatments, besides surgery.

The cancellation of such operations during the lockdown was also implemented by private sector giants such as the Netcare Group, Mediclinic Southern Africa and Life Healthcare.

“No one requiring elective surgery should be admitted. There’s no dire life and death need.

“It is a greater risk to admit a patient for elective surgery and have them contract coronavirus while admitted, when the operation was not immediately necessary.

“The patient could have waited for three months without an envisioned change in condition,” said Coetzee.

But prolonging an eye cataract procedure could lead to blindness, according to Dr Kgaogelo Legodi, president of the World Ophthalmology Congress. Delaying treatment “may lead to multiple consequences related to reduced vision, blindness or extended agony”.

Postponing joint surgeries such as hip or knee replacements could result in the bone being in such a bad state that surgery would be difficult, Dr Mark Human, Sama’s Gauteng chairman, said.

“When patients eventually get to the point of replacement, it is so bad that a first-time joint replacement cannot be done. The bone has collapsed so badly that it is a complicated first-time surgery which is twice as difficult as a redo procedure.”

While the lockdown may end, the pandemic could continue until a vaccine is found. This could lead to further postponements of elective surgeries and a greater backlog to an already long waiting list.

“It will be 20 months [of procedures] in one year,” said Human.

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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