The Gauteng Department of Health has rolled out a suite of targeted interventions aimed at drastically reducing paediatric surgical wait times and accelerating access to specialised medical care for infants and children at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH).
According to the department, the provincial health system has faced mounting pressure regarding delays for elective operations.
The interventions include:
• Strengthening theatre efficiency.
• Improving waiting list management.
• Enhancing the scheduling of surgical cases and implementing the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) programme, which supports improved patient flow and more effective utilisation of theatre capacity across Gauteng public hospitals.
The department noted that paediatric surgery remains a “highly specialised service that manages a wide range of conditions affecting infants and children”.
Despite “ongoing service pressures” and demand for these surgeries, the hospital has “a stable paediatric surgical programme, performing more than 2000 paediatric surgical procedures annually over the past several years”.
“The department acknowledges that waiting times for some elective paediatric procedures remain a challenge.
“Contributing factors include increased demand for emergency surgical services, limited theatre capacity, the availability of specialised anaesthetic personnel and constrained access to post-operative and critical care beds,” the GDoH explained.
However, emergency admissions often disrupt planned schedules, leading to postponements of elective procedures.
“While this approach ensures that emergency cases receive timely treatment, it places additional pressure on available theatre time and contributes to longer waiting periods for some elective procedures.
“To address these challenges, the department continues to strengthen the management of surgical waiting lists through regular clinical reviews and prioritisation of patients according to the urgency of their conditions,” the department said in a statement on Thursday.
Furthermore, the department’s optimisation of theatre schedules and improved coordination of surgical pathways are “assisting in increasing theatre utilisation and reducing cancellations”.
To supplement this, the department revealed that it is exploring the establishment of a “dedicated emergency paediatric surgical theatre list supported by dedicated anaesthetic and nursing teams”.
“This intervention is expected to improve access to emergency surgery while protecting elective operating time, reducing cancellations and preventing further growth of surgical waiting lists.
“The Treatment Time Guarantee programme continues to support these efforts by improving patient management and increasing surgical output across public hospitals in the province. The system has already yielded positive results in improving access to surgery and reducing delays in treatment,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
