Doctors stitching up a patient's heart at Johannesburg's Charlotte Maxeke Hospital recently watched the heart muscle tear as the sutures started to injure it.
Wits Professor Martin Veller, who works at the hospital, said fortunately the patient did not die, and doctors found better products to complete the operation .
Gauteng provincial health department spokesman Simon Zwane said hospital management was unaware of any problem with sutures, except for those needed for children's heart operations.
These were out of stock, leading to the cancellations of operations, he said.
However, a doctor who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, called The Times to complain about "poor quality sutures".
"The theatre staff call them 'fong kong' products'," he said. He claimed they were not approved by the SA Bureau of Standards.
Another doctor said: "Substandard sutures are in daily use. The surgeons were excluded from the adjudication process for surgical sutures. We believe there have been financial irregularities, but cannot pin them down."
One doctor said he had approached sales representatives to get free trial quality sutures.
Lawyer Kirsten Whitworth of the Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies is helping manage an agreement between academic hospitals and Wits to allow hospitals to get supplies rather than rely on provincial tenders.
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