Patients face agonising wait for specialist care amid doctor shortages

FAILED PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM

- YOSHINI PERUMAL [e-mail]

PATIENTS with life-altering illnesses have described their plight of pain and being left to suffer due to the shortage of specialist doctors in KwaZulu-Natal government hospitals.

While some patients are waiting more than a year for appointments, others are faced with a sixto eight-month waiting time to consult with specialists.

Last week, Nomagugu Simelane, the MEC for Health in KZN, confirmed that the province had a shortage of ophthalmologists; cardiologists; urologists; oncologists; ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists; and radiologists.

Due to the shortages, backlogs have left patients in limbo, with many feeling as if the public healthcare system has failed them.

@ Samantha Chetty, of Phoenix, said when her 8-year-old son, Godwyn, who suffers from microcephaly and cerebral palsy, suffered a dislocated hip joint in May, he was given an appointment with a specialist in March next year.

Chetty, 36, said her heart broke as she helplessly watched her son, who cannot speak or see, in pain.

“We do not know how or when Godwyn dislocated his hip. We noticed that he was unusually crabby and he cried continuously. He cannot speak, so we did not know what was going on. When we took him to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in May, the tests showed he had dislocated his hip.

“The nurse at the X-ray department told us to go straight to the doctor as his case was serious. The doctor told us to go to King Edward VIII Hospital in June. Further tests were done, which showed his hip was still dislocated. The doctor said he would require surgery and we were given an appointment for March 23 next year.”

Chetty said her son was forced to tolerate the pain until then.