Desperate patients in the orthopaedic ward at Dr George Mukhari Hospital in north west Gauteng went on a food and medicine strike last Friday to get attention for long-delayed operations.

The patients in Ward 11 refused food and medicine for two days until management assured them that they would be operated on.

These patients mostly have lower limb fractures, and have waited in the ward for surgery for more than two weeks.

In Ward 15, a female patient has lain for two months awaiting surgery for a fractured femur.

This hospital has the longest waiting lists for surgery in the entire province. The worst problem is in orthopaedics, where patients wait two years for a knee or hip replacement.

It's a terrible situation when patients have to take drastic action to get medical attention.

The hospital is neglected as it is not in an urban centre, which is very unfair as it is an academic hospital that many rural people need for specialist treatment.

Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe needs to pay special attention to the ongoing crisis at this hospital which suffers from acute staff and equipment shortages.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom, MPL, Democratic Alliance Gauteng health spokesman, November 22 2010

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