Johannesburg – The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital has not been able to do a single gall bladder operation since March last year because of broken laparoscopy equipment, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.
This information is revealed by Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu in a written reply to questions in the Gauteng legislature, DA spokesman Jack Bloom said in a statement.
Fifty-one patients were currently waiting for gall bladder operations at the hospital. Normally, about six gall bladder operations were done every month, so the backlog was now more than eight months because of the broken equipment, he said.
“According to Mahlangu, new laparoscopic equipment will be delivered in six to eight weeks. Meanwhile, patients are referred to the Helen Joseph Hospital for gall bladder surgery.
“It is shameful that this major hospital has been for so long without a key piece of surgery equipment,” Bloom said.
This was yet another example of equipment failure at the hospital. Other broken machinery at the hospital this year included the mammography machine to detect breast cancer, broken lifts, air-conditioning failure in operating theatres, and a shortage of clean linen because of a broken sterilising machine.
The department should give a high priority to ensuring working equipment at this flagship hospital, Bloom said.
African News Agency