A Limpopo man who was left with broken bones after a serious car crash in February is still waiting for orthopaedic surgery, over three months later. He is one of more than 600 people on the waiting list at Polokwane Hospital.
“The public sector is facing a critical shortage of orthopaedic surgeons. As a result, referral hospitals end up with long waiting lists for specialist care”, Limpopo Health spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana, tells Health-e News.
The wheelchair bound man, who spoke to Health-e News on condition of anonymity, can’t remember the details of the accident, which left him unconscious with a broken femur (thighbone) and shin.
He regained consciousness at WF Knobel Hospital in the Moletjie area, where he stayed for just over two months, receiving “only painkillers.”
“The nurse said I was brought to the hospital by an ambulance. She told me that the hospital didn’t have surgeons to operate on me, but I would soon be transferred to Polokwane,” the man recalls.
He was eventually transferred to Polokwane Hospital in early May. “All I get are promises that I will get the operation soon,” the man says.
However, he says he’s now moved up the list. “A doctor has assured me that I could get the operation in the coming days.”
Over three years on crutches
Another patient waiting for surgery is Matome Boetsi. For him, “soon” has stretched into years. A car accident in December 2022 left both his legs badly fractured.
“I was first admitted at Helena Franz Hospital at Bochum. Due to the unavailability of orthopaedic surgeons, I was taken to Polokwane Hospital the next day. Upon arrival, I was informed that there were no orthopaedic surgeons and that I should be taken to Lebowakgomo,” he says. “Even there, there were no surgeons, then I had to be transferred back to Polokwane.”
Following a month as an inpatient at Polokwane Hospital, Boetsi says his legs were put in a cast, and he was discharged two days later.
Over three years later, he relies on crutches, is still in pain and says his legs “have never fully recovered.”
“I’m now an outpatient, nursing my wounds at home under the care of my family. I’m still using crutches, and all I hear is one story: no surgeons,” says Boetsi. “I have lost weight considerably due to depression caused by these persistent delays of my surgery.”
Long-standing issue
According to Shikwambana, the backlog is an ongoing challenge.
“Orthopaedic surgeons are an extremely scarce skill not only in Limpopo but countrywide. As a rural province, we find ourselves competing with urban areas for skills. Even if we recruit specialists, we struggle to retain them,” he tells Health-e News.
“We send our young doctors to specialise so that they can come work in the province. But then again, retention becomes a challenge due to our province’s social and economic outlook.”
Opposition parties in the legislature say the state of healthcare in Limpopo is appalling and in need of a quick fix.
Lindy Wilson, the provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance in Limpopo, says in addition to staff shortages, the health system is under-equipped and has a decaying infrastructure.
“Doctors are also not willing to work in most rural facilities in the province due to low morale, and that’s why every hospital or clinic has a shortage of nurses, surgeons, specialists and the trauma sections are awfully unequipped,” Wilson says.
“This province is an absolute disaster. The shortage of orthopaedic surgeons is just the tip of the iceberg, and a lot of patients are still going to suffer,” she says. – Health-e News
