Johannesburg Hospital closed seven theatres in July but is treating the same number of cases with a focus on complex medical care, the hospital’s CEO said on Thursday.
”The allegations that cases are being cancelled are not true for the tertiary cases. What is true is that those cases which are inappropriate are being referred elsewhere,” said Sagie Pillay.
Johannesburg Hospital was a tertiary hospital with highly trained staff and a focus on more complex medical conditions, said Pillay.
Changes introduced in July saw seven theatres close, reducing the number from 27 to 20, but the hospital’s number of monthly cases had remained at 2 000, with the same number of staff, he said.
The focus on complex cases meant that people on waiting lists were being addressed, he said.
”We’ve made some changes to the way our theatres are utilised at the moment. Like all other public-service organisations, we all have to work with fixed budgets.”
Earlier, Democratic Alliance (DA) health spokesperson Jack Bloom said surgeons had been told that operations would no longer take place on Tuesdays.
Paediatric surgery had been reduced from three operating days to two a week, he said on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) news.
The DA said doctors were up in arms after more operations were cancelled, SABC reported.
Pillay said that ”everyone’s theatres” had been changed and theatre access reduced, but that despite this, 2 000 cases were still being done a month.
”If change has to happen in the best interest of the patients, then people have to align themselves behind that change,” he said.
Clinicians were going to have to review the way they work, he said.
Other Gauteng hospitals were properly equipped and staffed to respond to needs of cases that should not be going to Johannesburg Hospital, which had highly-skilled staff, he said.
”If you get a professor treating a cold, the cost of treating the cold is hugely expensive,” he cited as an example.
The hospital’s surgeons, anaesthetists and management met every fortnight to review the changes implemented.
It had been agreed that the changes would be implemented for one quarter and would be reviewed.
”The bottom line is that patients are not being affected by this. I’m satisfied that they are not,” Pillay said. — Sapa