Closure of Charlotte Maxeke hospital sees over 2,000 outpatients stranded daily

Hospitals in and around the Johannesburg region are unable to cope with the influx of patients referred to them by the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital (CMJH).

Over 2,000 daily outpatients cannot be treated at the CMJH since the fire that ripped through parts of the hospital back in April, forcing the closure and partial reopening of some sections of the hospital.

This information was disclosed on Tuesday by the Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in an oral reply to the questions at a sitting of the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mokgethi, the partially reopened hospital now sees only 381 outpatients a day on average, compared to 2,344 outpatients before the fire – a reduction of 84%.

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Mokgethi revealed that among some of the departments that are still closed include some of the surgical and medical specialities, psychiatry, accident and emergency, trauma unit, maternity emergencies and paediatric emergencies.

Helen Joseph Hospital has been worst affected, with large numbers of emergency patients stuck for days at casualty before being admitted to a ward.

This includes the case of 26-year-old Sichelesile Dube, who died in a wheelchair after staff “ignored her for more than a day.”

Only 489 beds have been opened at CMJH, compared to more than 1,000 beds previously.

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health Jack Bloom he was distressed at the continuing delays in fully reopening the CMJH hospital, which badly hits thousands of patients, including those who need surgery to save their lives or alleviate pain.

“The Gauteng Health Department should be innovative and use private sector expertise to speed up the repair of CMJH as soon as possible in order to get all its departments running,” said bloom.

The acting deputy director-general at the department Freddy Kgongwana denied that people have been turned away from facilities and said that the strain was not only presented by the closure of CMJH.  

He was speaking to Newzroom Afrika on Tuesday afternoon.

ALSO READ: Parts of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital to be fully operational in 2023

“Covid-19 doesn’t play fair, it presented a extreme pressures and unusual challenges that we have never faced as an industry and as a community,” said Kgongwana.

“We have lockdowns which we have never seen before as healthcare system, workers are dying with such huge numbers and even communities dying, so we cannot ignore the impact of Covid-19 and its demands.”

Kgongwana has since urged activists and different organisations not to ignore the difficulties, and the reality of the pressures presented by the pandemic as a conundrum on the system.