Original statement by DA MPL, Jack Bloom:
NO STEAM FOR OPS AT RAHIMA MOOSA HOSPITAL
All non-urgent surgery has been halted at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in west Johannesburg as there is no steam to sterilize instruments.
The cause is low water pressure from water pipes that have been leaking for two weeks.
Only emergency surgery is done, with instruments sent to other hospitals to be sterilized, which is very inconvenient.
If steam is not restored, more than 40 operations a week will be cancelled for people who have waited months for a hysterectomy, sterilization or removal of abscesses.
It's appalling that surgery has virtually ground to a halt at this hospital because of poor maintenance by public works at the Department of Infrastructure Development.
There is a maintenance crisis at virtually all Gauteng hospitals, with repairs done only when matters get out of hand as at Helen Joseph Hospital when leaking sewerage started to flow into the corridors.
Only R290 million is budgeted for hospital maintenance, which is R30 million less than last year. This is less than half the minimum amount of R600 million that should be spent annually on maintenance.
I expect more hospital failures if maintenance continues to be neglected.
Statement issued by by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, October 8 2010
Response by the Gauteng department of health:
Theatres at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital are operational
The Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development has noted with concern the media statement about the alleged halting of the all non-urgent surgeries at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Westbury.
The department would like to emphasise that these reports are unfounded and misleading and that no surgeries have been cancelled at the hospital. All theatres at the hospital are in full operation and there is steam to sterilise instruments.
The hospital experienced a problem with leaking pipes and the Department of Infrastructure has undertaken that it will send a contractor to fix the problem.
The department would further like to point out that this did not in any way affect operations and service delivery at the hospital.
Statement issued by Simon Zwane, Gauteng Department of Health, December 8 2010
Response by Jack Bloom:
SURGERY AT RAHIMA MOOSA RESTORED ONLY AFTER BAD PUBLICITY
The Gauteng Health Department untruthfully claims that no operations were cancelled at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital because of a lack of steam.
The fact of the matter is that the Department ignored leaking water pipes at the hospital for two weeks, and only snapped into action when I publicized the fact that non-emergency surgery had been cancelled yesterday.
The problem is that routine maintenance is not done, so things are only repaired when it is an obvious emergency and there is bad publicity.
This is what happened earlier this week after sewage started to leak into the corridor of Helen Joseph Hospital.
There is a maintenance crisis in Gauteng hospitals that the department should attend to, rather than denying its ill effects on patient care.
Statement issued by by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, October 8 2010
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