Due to a lack of basic medical supplies, all non-emergency operations were discontinued at the Johannesburg Hospital.
The problems have been going on for weeks and doctors now have to “beg” for medical supplies at neighboring hospitals to deal with serious cases.
The Gauteng Health ministry has confirmed that non-emergency surgery for some patients had to be rescheduled at Charlotte Maxeke hospital in Johannesburg due to a shortage of medical supplies.
This was in response to a statement from the Democratic Alliance’s spokesperson on health, Jack Bloom, who said about 20 patients had been told that their operations could not go ahead. Kwara Kekana, spokesperson for the province’s health MEC, Dr Bandile Masuku, said eight patients were affected by the issue. The patients were all scheduled for arthroplasty.
“There has been a problem for some weeks with procurement at this hospital,” Bloom said in his statement.