HUGE SURGERY backlogs at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital have cancer patients losing hope as their lives are at risk due to the hospital experiencing power outages and a lack of beds among other things.
At least 11,194 patients are waiting for procedures ranging from spinal surgery and oncology to Orthopaedic surgery.
The prolonged closure of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital trauma unit due to a fire last year has also contributed to the hospital’s huge surgery backlog.
Over 700 patients are awaiting various cancer-related surgeries while 1,304 children will have to wait six months to have their surgeries and 3,394 adults are waiting to have cataract surgeries.
Breast cancer patient Dorcus Sishuba-Mlotshwa, 63, from Vosloorus, who had a double mastectomy last year at Charlotte Maxeke, said she was transferred to Baragwanath where she was meant to undergo radiation but was told to wait for two years before she could be declared cancer-free.
“Meanwhile, I do not know whether the cancer is spreading or whether it was successfully dealt with. I do not know my fate. I am living by the mercy of God but I am scared that I will die before I get treatment.”
She said she was asked to wait for patients who have been queuing since 2019 to first be treated before she could get help on her health, which included constant monitoring of her heart due to the removal of her left breast.
Image (Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital under pressure as a result of prolonged closure of Charlotte Maxeke hospital).
