The Gauteng Department of Health has pointed to nearly 88 000 procedures performed under its new patient-tracking system.
However, the DA says a crisis at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital reveals how far the province still has to go.
DA sounds the alarm at Charlotte Maxeke
DA Gauteng legislature member Jack Bloom fired the opening shot, revealing that more than 3 000 operations had been cancelled at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital since January last year, figures he obtained through a written reply from Gauteng Health MEC Faith Mazibuko in the Gauteng Legislature.
“More than 3 000 operations have been cancelled at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital since January last year,” Bloom said.
“This is one in every four scheduled procedures, causing immense suffering for patients, many of whom wait more than a year for surgery.”
Bloom said the 3 050 cancellations cut across multiple departments: 596 in General Surgery, 590 in Paediatrics, 470 in Vascular and Hand Surgery, 249 in ENT and 235 in Urology.
The cancellation rate has entrenched itself at between 23 and 25%, well above the department’s own target of below 15%.
According to MEC Mazibuko’s written reply, the key drivers include a shortage of ICU and high-care beds required for post-operative aftercare, alongside recurring infrastructure failures and persistent staffing shortages.
Patient-related factors, such as patients not being ready, failing to attend or declining to proceed, also contribute.
Bloom said the human cost was impossible to ignore.
“Behind these numbers are real people in pain, their lives on hold while they wait for sight to be restored, limbs repaired, tumours removed, or disfigurements corrected,” he said.
Children and orthopaedic patients carry the heaviest burden
The backlog is felt most acutely in Orthopaedics, where 1 773 patients have been waiting between six and 18 months for surgery.
“Most distressing is the 490 children still waiting for operations,” Bloom said.
The consequences for patients more broadly, he noted, include delayed access to definitive surgical care, prolonged waiting periods beyond clinically safe timeframes, increased risk of disease progression and complications, and extended hospital stays without intervention.
Bloom was unambiguous about what the situation demands.
“This crisis at a flagship hospital demands urgent action,” he said. “The Democratic Alliance in Gauteng will continue to push for the filling of critical vacancies and equipment upgrades, including more ICU beds, to reduce cancellations and cut the backlogs.”
Department responds with system-wide figures
In response to the pressure, the Gauteng Department of Health pointed to the performance of its Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) system.
The system was introduced in 2025 during the Mandela Month Surgical Marathon as evidence that the province was making measurable headway across its public hospitals.
Health department spokesperson Steve Mabona said the platform, the first of its kind in South Africa’s public sector, was fundamentally changing how surgical care was being managed.
“The platform enables hospitals to track patients from the assessment stage through to booked procedures and completed surgeries, thereby improving visibility of waiting lists, patient prioritisation, accountability and theatre utilisation,” he said.
According to the department, since the TTG’s rollout, Gauteng public hospitals have collectively logged 87 835 surgical procedures on the system across key specialities.
Mabona revealed that Obstetrics and Gynaecology led all departments with 41 520 procedures, followed by Orthopaedic surgery at 9 712 and Ophthalmology at 8 900.
Meanwhile, General Surgery recorded 3 464 procedures, Paediatric Surgery 2 912 and Ear, Nose and Throat surgery 1 593.
Mabona said the output reflected genuine progress despite ongoing pressures.
“Since the implementation of the system, Gauteng public hospitals have collectively performed 87 835 surgical procedures tracked on the platform across key specialities, demonstrating significant progress in expanding access to care despite ongoing operational and infrastructure pressures within the public healthcare system,” he said.
A waiting list of more than 43 000 and a system under strain
The department’s own data, however, confirms that demand continues to outpace capacity.
“The current provincial surgical waiting list burden stands at 43 421 patients across Gauteng public hospitals,” Mabona revealed.
Of these, 29 098 are legacy cases captured manually before the TTG system came online, while 761 are current cases now recorded on the platform.
A further 5 443 patients remain on registration lists awaiting assessment and scheduling, and 8 199 are already booked for theatre.
Mabona said the department was actively using the platform to work through the backlog.
“The Department continues to utilise the TTG platform to improve prioritisation and management of these cases in order to accelerate patient access to surgical care,” he said.
The department currently employs 492 full-time surgeons, supported by four part-time or periodical surgeons and 110 surgical trainees.
To supplement theatre capacity, surgical marathons, weekend catch-up programmes, extended theatre sessions and targeted blitzes are being run across the province.
Mabona said broader systemic fixes were also in progress.
“Interventions are underway to address these constraints, which include strengthening equipment maintenance, improving theatre functionality, filling critical vacancies, enhancing operational oversight and strengthening cluster hospital arrangements to optimise theatre capacity across facilities,” he said.
