Too few doctors are available to treat all the patients in some departments of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the Gauteng department of health said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Phumelele Kaunda said the hospital’s urology department did not have enough doctors to attend to all patients.
”This shortage of doctors makes it hard for them to attend to all patients the same day,” said Kaunda.
On Monday the Democratic Alliance (DA) said that the hospital was turning away more than 50 patients a day.
DA spokesperson Jack Bloom said it was ”inhuman” that suffering patients were sent away and told to come back later in the week.
In response, Kaunda said doctors worked on ”appointments” only.
”Patients who are not booked are sent to the out-patient departments where they receive treatment whilst waiting for their dates to see the urologist.”
However, she was not able to say when the situation would be resolved at the hospital, but she said they were working on hiring more doctors.
”The shortage of health workers is a global problem but the Gauteng department of health is striving to attract and retain health workers.” — Sapa