A frustrated supplier, fed-up with delayed payment from Leratong Hospital in Mogale City, Johannesburg, for replacement of an air conditioning system, has “soft-locked” a code in the unit so that eight theatres have had to be shut down, being too hot in which to operate.
Since then, more than 500 patients at the 855-bed facility awaiting surgery have had to be transferred to Dr Yusuf Dadoo Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, writes Yoliswa Sobuwa for Health-e News.
In November 2023, the hospital hired contractors to replace parts of the ceilings that had collapsed. During this period, the air-conditioning units, or ‘chillers’ – used to keep equipment running smoothly and lower patients’ body temperatures during certain procedures and to keep medical samples at proper temperatures throughout the entire hospital – were also repaired or upgraded.
But the hospital allegedly failed to pay the contractor, who in turn, could not pay his supplier for the upgraded air conditioning units. As a result, the supplier electronically soft-locked the units using a code, meaning no one else can unlock them, and rendering them unworkable.
To and fro
The patient transfers are taking their toll on staff, who have to commute between hospitals to look after patients.
“Our hospitals are understaffed so you will be working on a patient and then get a call about a critical emergency. As soon as you are done with that patient you have to rush to the (other) hospital, which is about 15 minutes away. It is exhausting…”
The situation is also contributing to the surgical backlog at Leratong.
The 45-year-old level 2 hospital gets referrals from two district hospitals and more than 70 clinics in the West Rand and Johannesburg metro. It has an estimated catchment population of 1.5m people.
One nurse said some patients had been awaiting surgery for as long as a year while another said the theatres haven’t been working “for a while”.
Gauteng Health acting head of communications Khutso Rabothata said it was aware of the problem, dating back to when the new chiller was installed.
“The hospital has 572 patients awaiting surgeries. At this stage, theatres …will only be opened as soon as the supplier is fully paid by the appointed contractors. The invoice was approved by the department and it is awaiting the payment run.”
Rabothata could not confirm when payment would take place, and said the central system “is dealing with batches of invoices from all public healthcare facilities”.
The theatres were initially closed on 13 February for the installation of a standby chiller, he said, and this job was concluded on 4 March.
“The theatres were then operational until 9 March, when the temperatures could not be regulated to the required levels, due to unforeseen breakdown of the standby chiller.
“A service provider was then instantly appointed to repair the chiller and the job is due to be completed by the end of April.”
The standby chiller is currently undergoing major repairs and is expected to be back online in the next three weeks. The hospital’s operations are scheduled through booked slots, a combination of planned operations and emergency procedures.
“An exact daily count of operations is not readily available,” he said, adding that when the theatres are working, the waiting period for surgery is roughly three months.
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