Critics raise alarm over leadership issues at Gauteng health department
Several opposition politicians and commentators have flagged what appears to be chronic leadership problems at the Gauteng Department of Health. Ufrieda Ho reports.
Surgeries delayed at Charlotte Maxeke as key machine decommissioned before replacements are ready
Staff say patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in need of vascular surgery face a three-month wait for life-saving surgery because of what some staff are calling “fishy” operational management and bad planning. According to hospital management, however, patients will be diverted to other hospitals during this period. Ufrieda Ho reports.
RIGHT OF REPLY: Reducing the surgical and cancer treatment backlogs is an urgent priority
Following an article in Spotlight bemoaning “the lack of urgency” by the Gauteng Department of Health in addressing cancer and surgical backlogs despite having been allocated funds toward this, Dr Stephen Mankupane, Acting Head of Hospital Services in the provincial health department, writes that there is no disputing the fact that there is a need to act with urgency in attending to these backlogs and outlines what the department is doing. Here is his response in full.
Opinion: Patients to benefit from new funding and decision to let private sector help with Gauteng’s oncology backlog
On 8 March 2023, the Gauteng MEC for Finance delivered his budget speech in which he indicated that an amount of R784 million has been set aside for the provincial health department to “address backlogs in surgical and radiation oncology services” in Gauteng. Khanyisa Mapipa and Salomé Meyer reflect on the work done to get to this point.
“The system is going to implode”: Cancer treatment backlogs grow after Charlotte Maxeke fire
Four years ago, the virtual collapse of cancer services in KwaZulu-Natal saw some desperate patients move to Gauteng for care. Now, a new crisis is again prompting those who can, to relocate for treatment. Laura Lopez Gonzalez reports.
