Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Another fire has been reported at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.
Photo: Unsplash

Charlotte Maxeke Hospital works to address surgical backlogs

The Gauteng Department of Health says more than 2,600 patients are currently awaiting surgical procedures at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Charlotte Maxeke Hospital

Another fire has been reported at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.
Photo: Unsplash

The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in Johannesburg is now implementing a series of measures, in a bid to reduce the long waiting times for surgical procedures. According to the Gauteng Department of Health, these 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’s spokesperson Motalatale Modiba in a statement on Sunday, 24 July 2022.

OVER 2,600 PATIENTS AWAITING SURGICAL PROCEDURES

According to the Gauteng Department of Health, 2 677 patients are currently awaiting surgical procedures in various health categories at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital.

The reasons range from the fire from 2021, a shortage of organ donors, insufficient theatre time and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“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,” Modiba said.

In addition, the hospital is joining forces 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.

“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,” Modiba added.

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