The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has not been able to perform any gall bladder operations since March last year. This is due to broken laparoscopic equipment that hinders surgeons in performing the operations.
The Department of Health issued a statement that it will deliver laparoscopic equipment in late October 2015 to perform gall bladder operations at the hospital. MEC of Health Qedani Mahlangu said the arrival of the equipment would improve service delivery in Gauteng as the hospital is a central hospital that takes referrals from other facilities.
Normally six gall bladder operations are done every month however, due to the delay, currently there are 51patients waiting for gall bladder operations at the hospital. DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health Jack Bloom believes it it shameful that major hospitals have gone for so long without key pieces of equipment to perform major surgeries of this nature. “It is yet another example of equipment failure at this hospital. The department should give a high priority to ensuring working equipment at this flagship hospital,” he said.
Bloom also listed other broken machinery at the hospital that included the mammography machine, shortage of clean linen due to a broken sterilising machine, broken lifts and broken air-conditioning in operating theatres.
Mahlangu pleaded for patience during this process and minimal disruption to services as possible. “As an interim measure, CMAH refers all gall bladder operations to its sister hospital Helen Joseph Hospital,” she said.
