Die Awaiting Heart Surgery

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31117, 21 July 1966, Page 5

Die Awaiting Heart Surgery

ffl.k.PA.-Reuteri CAPE TOWN. The pressure on the cardio thoracic surgery unit at Groote Schuur Hospital is so great that six times as many people die while on the waiting list for open-heart operations as die during surgery. Patients in urgent need of the operation are no longer even put on the waiting list because doctors know that they will not survive the waiting period. Three open-heart operations are performed by the unit every week, but as many as 10 people are added to the waiting list in the same period. Provision of a new operating theatre for the unit has been delayed indefinitely by the credit squeeze and the position is likely to get steadily worse. Another problem is the shortage of technical staff because of the low salaries offered. The senior technician recently resigned to take a post in the United States and

the unit now has only two technicians instead of the authorised five. There are only two centres where open-heart operations are regularly performed. Cape Town and Witwatersrand. The reputation of the Groote Schuur unit is so high that it attracts patients from all parts of the country.