Surgeons operate in dangerous heat as aircon at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital is broken
Broken air conditioners at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Parktown have raised concerns around same issues at other hospitals.
The summer season has seen very high temperatures even heat waves, and Charlotte Maxeke Hospital’s patients and staff are bearing the brunt.
DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom on October 7, revealed that that week, surgeons at the hospital in Parktown were operating in dangerously high heat in the theatres as the air conditioning had broken down. “This is the second major hospital to experience air-conditioning failure in the recent hot weather as the chillers at the Steve Biko Hospital broke last week.
“It is risky operating in high temperatures as it increases the risk of infection, but surgeons are reluctant to cancel operations at Charlotte Maxeke as there are long surgery waiting lists.”
He suggested that there needs to be a thorough overhaul of maintenance at public hospitals, ‘which are poorly served by the notoriously corrupt and incompetent Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development’.
Bloom said major hospitals like Charlotte Maxeke and Steve Biko should be able to do their own maintenance and choose decent contractors who can do the job. He said devolving maintenance and minor capital works would also help with challenges like the water shortages experienced by the Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa hospitals.
“Meanwhile, the major victims are patients whose operations are cancelled and staff who are stressed out of their minds by the poor conditions under which they work,” said Bloom.
On October 13, communications and public relations liaison at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital Tabudi Madisha said, “I can confirm that late last week, one of our chillers had a controller problem which resulted in high temperatures. This led to the postponement of elective surgical cases. However, the matter is resolved now, and all our services are operating as normal.”
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