PENSIONER Nomhlangano Ntshalintshali last stood on her legs 14 years ago.
Ntshalintshali, 71, of Alexandra, Johannesburg, is bedridden due to what appears to be elephantiasis on her upper leg.
She was hospitalised at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital for three months in 2012 before she was discharged.
Doctors promised to call her in two months' time once she had lost weight for an operation on her leg.
This never happened. Now her leg has grown bigger, with multiple sores on it. Sowetan reported on her plight in July 2012 and the hospital promised to fetch her again.
"None of them ever came to my house. Instead, my leg keeps growing and I develop new sores all the time. I can't leave this bed. I pray that one day I will get help and look after my kids instead of them bathing and caring for me."
She is one of 1637 patients that are waiting for surgery at Charlotte Maxeke, where about 310 operations were cancelled between January and August this year.
This figure was revealed by Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu during a reply to questions by DA Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom at the legislature recently.
Bloom said the delays were due to lack of ICU beds, patients changing their minds and older patients taking longer to recover.
Neurosurgery was the worst with 500 patients and a waiting period of six months to six years for operations.
Hospital spokeswoman Lungiswa Mvumvu says they have 61 ICU beds, which are not enough. She says this results in them prioritising cases according to urgency and availability of beds.
"We need not only ICU beds, but also trained manpower, equipment and financial resources for consumables," Mvumvu says.
A doctor whose name is known to Sowetan said: "It's atrocious to work here. That waiting period would have been bigger if there were no doctors that were breaking their backs to make things happen here. At the moment some managers are so useless they cannot even wipe their own bums."
Lack of equipment has always been a headache for patients and staff.
"We cannot avoid a situation where a patient's condition deteriorates and has to keep the ICU bed.
"But it's frustrating when lots of money is being wasted on buying new linen instead of regularly cleaning what we already have," said the disgruntled doctor.
sifilel@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Charlotte Maxeke's 1600 surgery backlog
PENSIONER Nomhlangano Ntshalintshali last stood on her legs 14 years ago.
Ntshalintshali, 71, of Alexandra, Johannesburg, is bedridden due to what appears to be elephantiasis on her upper leg.
She was hospitalised at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital for three months in 2012 before she was discharged.
Doctors promised to call her in two months' time once she had lost weight for an operation on her leg.
This never happened. Now her leg has grown bigger, with multiple sores on it. Sowetan reported on her plight in July 2012 and the hospital promised to fetch her again.
"None of them ever came to my house. Instead, my leg keeps growing and I develop new sores all the time. I can't leave this bed. I pray that one day I will get help and look after my kids instead of them bathing and caring for me."
She is one of 1637 patients that are waiting for surgery at Charlotte Maxeke, where about 310 operations were cancelled between January and August this year.
This figure was revealed by Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu during a reply to questions by DA Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom at the legislature recently.
Bloom said the delays were due to lack of ICU beds, patients changing their minds and older patients taking longer to recover.
Neurosurgery was the worst with 500 patients and a waiting period of six months to six years for operations.
Hospital spokeswoman Lungiswa Mvumvu says they have 61 ICU beds, which are not enough. She says this results in them prioritising cases according to urgency and availability of beds.
"We need not only ICU beds, but also trained manpower, equipment and financial resources for consumables," Mvumvu says.
A doctor whose name is known to Sowetan said: "It's atrocious to work here. That waiting period would have been bigger if there were no doctors that were breaking their backs to make things happen here. At the moment some managers are so useless they cannot even wipe their own bums."
Lack of equipment has always been a headache for patients and staff.
"We cannot avoid a situation where a patient's condition deteriorates and has to keep the ICU bed.
"But it's frustrating when lots of money is being wasted on buying new linen instead of regularly cleaning what we already have," said the disgruntled doctor.
sifilel@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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