Overcrowded casualties in Gauteng hospitals

6 August 2024

Long waiting times at the casualty departments of Gauteng hospitals are causing distress to patients suffering from the cold winter.

There were 94 patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital's medical casualty ward last night, of which 30 were still not treated by this morning, including young children.

At the hospital's trauma casualty, there were 230 patients which 18 were not attended to.

Patients complained about nurses who were unsympathetic or sleeping on the job.

Helen Joseph Hospital is also overwhelmed by casualty patients, and other hospitals as well.

This is an unfortunate outcome of the Gauteng Health Department's chronic mismanagement and failure to fill vacancies in critical posts.

Proper planning and resources are needed to cope with the extra flood of medical cases in winter and other high stress times.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 6 August 2024