Northern Hospital celebrates halfway mark of Mandela Month Surgical Marathon
Dedicated theatre teams have completed 72 operations so far, while emergency and urgent surgical services continue without disruption at the hospital.
The Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital has completed 72 surgical procedures as part of the Gauteng Department of Health’s (GDoH) Mandela Month Surgical Marathon.
This places the facility nearly halfway towards its target of 154 procedures by the end of the initiative on July 31.
GDoH spokesperson Steve Mabona said the initiative forms part of the department’s ongoing efforts to improve access to surgical care.
“The Mandela Month Surgical Marathon is a GDoH initiative that forms part of the department’s ongoing efforts to reduce surgical waiting lists, improve access and ensure patients receive timely surgical treatment. This year’s programme runs from July 11–31 across participating public hospitals,” he said.
According to Mabona, as of July 17, Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital had completed 72 surgical procedures, representing 47% of its pledged target of 154 procedures.
The total excludes procedures that were still underway at the time of reporting.
He mentioned that surgeries completed include 35 ophthalmology procedures, 14 orthopaedic operations, 11 general surgery procedures, seven surgeries, four urology procedures and one paediatric surgery.
Mabona said patients selected for surgery during the marathon are drawn from existing waiting lists using specific clinical criteria.
“Patients are selected from existing surgical waiting lists based on clinical priority, readiness for surgery, completion of pre-operative assessments, and overall fitness for surgery,” he said.
He added that to ensure the programme does not disrupt essential health services, the hospital has allocated dedicated theatre time and clinical teams while maintaining emergency and urgent surgical services.
“The hospital has dedicated theatre time and multidisciplinary clinical teams to support the programme while ensuring emergency and other urgent surgical services continue uninterrupted through careful operational planning,” Mabona said.
After the Mandela Month Surgical Marathon, Mabona said the hospital would continue implementing measures aimed at reducing surgical waiting times.
“The hospital will continue implementing measures to optimise theatre utilisation, improve theatre scheduling and strengthen patient management processes to reduce surgical waiting times in line with the Gauteng Department of Health’s Treatment Time Guarantees Programme,” he said.
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or WhatsApp Channel
