Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital facing backlog of over 11 000 surgeries

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital on Wednesday said it has a backlog of 11 194 patients waiting to undergo surgeries.

Gauteng MEC for Health Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi said the long waiting list is being tackled through various interventions.

Surgery backlog

Mokgethi blamed a shortage of a post-operative intensive care unit and high care unit beds, insufficient theatre times and infrastructure issues, such as broken autoclaves, power outages and dysfunctional boilers, for the backlog.

Certain surgeries were also postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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She said the Department of Infrastructure and Property Management (DID) is currently working on fixing the theatre so minor surgeries can take place.

Referring surgeries to other hospitals

“Various interventions are being used to tackle the backlogs. These include dedicated weekend surgeries, an increase in arthroplasty days to three days a week for hip replacement and other joint surgeries,” said Mokgethi.

Another effort to scale down the backlog in their surgical department, the hospital will start referring surgeries to other hospitals within its cluster.

“The neurosurgery department is providing outreach programmes at lower level hospitals within the Bara cluster. These are taking place at Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital in Ekurhuleni and Leratong Hospital in West Rand District.”

Mokgethi also said more capacity will be available when an additional theatre at Bheki Mlangeni District starts working again.

Adult cataract surgery has the biggest backlog, with 3 394 patients waiting for surgery.

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