Man fears he may have to wait months for surgery
Kleinhans' father, Francois, has consulted a private orthopaedic surgeon who is willing to operate on his son. However, a private hospital in the city where he will need to recuperate after the operation, is not willing to admit him at a reduced fee. His parents have already attempted to get a second bond on their home to finance his hospital stay, but without success
MBOMBELA – A young man of Ohrigstad fears that he may suffer the same fate as thousands of other orthopaedic patients in the province – having to wait for much-needed surgery for months on end.
Mr Johan Pieterse (23) – a miner – has already been lying in Rob Ferreira Hospital for three weeks, waiting on an operation to repair a fracture to his right femur which was been shattered above the knee in a car accident. He is enduring excruciating pain and is worried that he may never be able to return to his duties as a machine operator if he doesn’t receive the necessary treatment.
The shortage of orthopaedic surgeons in the province is old news. It has been battling with less than a handful specialists in this field for years now, but the department seems unable to recruit more to fill the critical shortage. Currently, there are only four in Mpumalanga’s state sector – two at the state hospital in eMalahleni, one at Rob Ferreira and another at Themba Hospital.
Also read: Last surgeon resigns: fear of chaos at Robs
Also read:
• Last surgeon resigns: fear of chaos at Robs
• More than 2 000 patients waiting on orthopaedic surgery
A media statement was issued at the beginning of the month, stating that 20 orthopaedic surgeons from around the country would have embarked on an orthopaedic surgery marathon at Rob Ferreira from May 8 to 10 in an attempt to decrease the backlog. The operations would have been conducted under a project called “Orthopaedic Letsema”.
Also read: Ray of hope for Mpumalanga’s orthopaedic patients
On Friday May 8 government issued a notice that the planned project had been postponed until further notice, stating no reason.
Pieterse would have been operated on that weekend. When the procedure was cancelled and his parents enquired about the reason why, they were told that the autoclave, used to sterilise linen and surgical equipment, was out of order. Mr Dumisani Malamule, spokesman for the department, denied this, saying, “Operation Letsema had indeed been postponed to May 20 to 31 because the department was busy finalising certain logistics with the doctors who would conducting the operations. It is not true that it has been postponed due to a broken autoclave. The autoclave is fully operational and it did not break in the first place.”
However, Lowvelder spoke to various sources inside the hospital, including doctors and nurses, who confirmed that the autoclave had been broken. “A pipe burst and the autoclave couldn’t produce any steam,” one of the sources explained.
Pieterse’s father, Mr Francois Kleinhans, has consulted a private orthopaedic surgeon who is willing to operate on his son. However, a private hospital in the city where he will need to recuperate after the operation, is not willing to admit him at a reduced fee. His parents have already attempted to get a second bond on their home to finance his hospital stay, but without success.
Also read: Rob Ferreira Hospitaal laat man in die steek
“It is horrific. I cannot go home at the end of the day knowing that my son has to lie here. The doctors and nursing staff here are doing the best they can under the circumstances, but it is heartbreaking to think that he may have to lie here for months before he is being operated on,” his mother, Elize, said.
