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More than a hundred operations were cancelled in three major Gauteng hospitals last week - in one case because of a water cut-off, a flooding in another case, and also a heating failure in operating theatres.

At the Helen Joseph Hospital, surgical instruments could not be sterilised because the autoclaves had no steam due to the water shortage.

On Friday last week, about 30 operations at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (CHBH) were cancelled because the main theatre complex was flooded.

And many operations were cancelled at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital as temperatures in the theatres were too low due to a heating system failure.

The impact of these cancellations is devastating for patients who may have waited more than a year while suffering in pain.

Surgeons are frustrated because factors out of their control lead to operations being cancelled and the surgery backlog keeps growing.

Poor maintenance is largely to blame for the recent spate of surgery cancellations. It is unacceptable that leaking pipes flooded the CHBH theatre complex, while Helen Joseph Hospital has repeatedly failed to fix their water shortage.

Responsibility for hospital maintenance should be removed from the incompetent and corruption Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development.

It should be devolved to competent hospital CEOs with an adequate budget to fix long-standing infrastructure weaknesses.

Issued by Jack Bloom MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health