73 CHILDREN WAIT FOR MRI SCANS AT BARA HOSPITAL

8 July 2015

73 child patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital have to wait up to six weeks for a MRI scan because the anaesthetic machine that prepares them for the scan has been broken for a year.

According to a written reply by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature, the children are sent instead to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital for MRI scans.

The broken machine needs to be replaced as it has now been condemned, but Mahlangu has not provided a date when the new machine will arrive.

Meanwhile, seriously ill children face delays in being diagnosed by a MRI scan for conditions that include the following:

Neurological tumours

Cancer cases

Strokes

 Brain malformations

Congenital abnormalities

Renal tumours

Respiratory cases

This unsatisfactory situation has last for more than a year.

The anaesthetic machine is needed to stop children from moving when they undergo a scan.

Surely an essential machine like this should have been ordered and delivered long ago?

It is one more example of poor management at this hospital.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, July 8 2015