Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has come under scrutiny after a three-year-old child reportedly waited 30 months for a hernia operation.
A three-year-old child has reportedly been waiting two-and-a-half years for a hernia operation at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH), with the case exposing what opposition parties say is a growing crisis in access to paediatric surgery in Gauteng.
According to a written reply by Gauteng Health MEC Faith Mazibuko to questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, 217 children are currently waiting for various surgical procedures at the hospital. Among them is a toddler who has been waiting 30 months for surgery to repair a hernia.
The DA said it would submit follow-up questions to the MEC to determine why recommendations to establish a dedicated emergency paediatric surgical theatre, supported by dedicated anaesthetic and nursing teams, have yet to be implemented.
DA Gauteng Health spokesperson Madeleine Hicklin said while the department had cited limited theatre capacity, emergency and neonatal surgical demand, shortages of specialised anaesthetists, and a lack of subspecialist expertise as reasons for the delays, it was unacceptable that a child should wait almost three years for surgery.
