Broken aircon halts bone surgery at Steve Biko Hospital

19 November 2019

Patients with broken bones have been waiting for three weeks to be operated on at the Steve Biko Hospital as the air-conditioning unit is broken at the theatre used for orthopaedic surgery.

The delay is immensely painful and frustrating for these patients, many of whom were injured in road accidents.

It will add to the long Orthopaedics waiting list which already has 600 patients who wait from 18 months to two years for a hip or knee operation.

This hospital has top class surgeons but equipment breakdowns and other failures often prevent them from doing their work.

It is unacceptable that a critical air-conditioning unit is out of order for so long at a major hospital.

It needs to be fixed or replaced as soon as possible.

Issued by Jack Bloom,DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 19 November 2019