Department of Health Department of Health 2022/08/30 - 22:00
The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital’s long waiting list for surgeries is being managed through various interventions as part of efforts to ensure that all patients who require surgeries are assisted accordingly.
This was an assurance given by the Gauteng MEC for Health Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi when responding to a legislature question on the matter. Bara, as the Soweto based hospital is affectionately known, has to date 11 194 patients awaiting to undergo surgeries in various healthcare categories.
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. Further capacity will be availed once an additional theatre at the Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital is back on line.
The Department of Infrastructure and Property Management (DID) is currently attending to ventilation issues affecting the theatre in order to allow for minor surgeries to resume at that facility.
The neurosurgery department is providing outreach programme at lower level hospital within the Bara cluster. These are taking place at Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital in Ekurhuleni and Leratong Hospital in West Rand District.
Bara continues to provide brachytherapy as part of efforts to reduce prostate cancer backlogs, which was introduced last year and rezum therapy to decrease benign prostatic hyperplasia backlogs.
Prostate brachytherapy is a treatment which can be used alone to cure early-stage prostate cancer or combined with external beam radiotherapy for slightly more advanced cancer.
Some of the factors that lead to long waiting times for operations includes the shortage of a post-operative intensive care unit and high care unit beds; insufficient theatre times; infrastructure issues such as broken autoclaves, power outages, and dysfunctional boilers – which the DID is attending to.
Many of the surgical procedures were deferred owing to various causes, chief amongst these is the COVID-19 outbreak, which led to the postponement of elective (planned) surgeries in the last two years as the health system was recapacitated to deal with the pandemic.
The facility is currently working around the clock to attend to as many cases as possible in order to significantly reduce the backlog.
**Attached see the waiting list for procedures.
Ends
Issued by Gauteng Department of Health
For more information, Motalatale Modiba, Head of Communication on 064 803 0808 or mediaenquiries@gauteng.gov.za
For media releases, speeches and news visit the Gauteng Department of Health’s portal at www.gauteng.gov.za
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Media Statement - BARA SURGERY BACKLOG RECEIVING ATTENTION 31082022.pdf
Published 2022/08/30 - 22:00
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