Life Beacon Bay Hospital, one of the biggest private healthcare facilities in KuGompo (East London), is collaborating with Frere Hospital – which provides the only public sector tertiary specialist urology service for more than 3m people in the Eastern Cape – to reduce a growing urological surgery backlog, reports News24.
Within the next few weeks, at least 25 patients who have been on the waiting list at Frere, which has just one full-time urologist, will have their operations free of charge.
Life Beacon Bay will be providing theatre capacity, hospital facilities and clinical support services, the initiative not only helping to slash the growing number of patients awaiting procedures but also strengthening collaboration between the public and private healthcare sectors.
“The focus is on supporting patient care and working together to expand access to care,” said Lyndee Hartwanger, hospital manager at Life Beacon Bay.
Camagwini Mavovana, spokesperson for Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa, said the initiative forms part of Project IMPACT, conceived by Dr Jeff John, currently the only full-time urologist at Frere.
“Rather than allowing existing limitations to prevent patients from accessing care, the Frere team has sought partnerships that make additional theatre capacity, specialist expertise and other resources available. The project is built around three pillars – access, care and training (ACT),” added Mavovana.
Hartwanger said the collaboration with Frere had been in place for three years and that both teams remain committed to supporting patients through this collaborative initiative.
Patients for the marathon were identified and selected by the Frere urology department from its waiting list, based on clinical need and suitability, and ranged from orchidectomies to JJ stent insertions and laser procedures.
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa’s Eastern Cape secretary, Veli Sinqana, highlighted the shortage of staff and lack of equipment as reasons for the delays in operating on patients needing urological care.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Call for urology collaboration to address dire shortage
Africa’s medical specialist shortage at critical point – experts
Critical staff shortage affects East London’s Frere Hospital surgeries