Charlotte Maxeke yet to get a clean bill of health

Two months after Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane promised to address the many problems at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, staff shortages remain dire.

An August 14 exposé in The Times detailed how equipment shortages and a moratorium on staff were causing the hospital to grind to a standstill .

When Mokonyane visited the hospital on August 15, she promised to address the problems plaguing the hospital.

These ranged from shortages of basic equipment, such as gloves, to broken theatre lights and life-saving equipment in need of repair.

The biggest concern was the shortage of nurses, doctors and specialists.

Today, the most visible change is that the expansive underground parking lot has received a fresh coat of paint and new lights. This, said facilities manager Mossie Mostert, was to improve security and reduce mugging.

After Mokonyane visited the hospital vowed to meet senior hospital staff regularly to find solutions, particularly to the staff shortages .

So far, 110 critical vacancies have been filled - about a quarter of the total needed.

There are still 277 nursing vacancies, 244 of which are for professional nurse speciality posts, and 153 vacancies for doctors, 107 of which must be specialists.

A doctor working in the emergency ward, who did not want to be named, said: "We are terribly short-staffed."

A trauma nurse said the ward needed 40 nurses, not just the 26 on hand.

Maternity ward operations manager Poppy Nkambule thanked the premier for providing two advanced midwives in recent weeks but said more staff were needed.

"We use a strategy of overtime to cover for shortages," she said.

Maternity theatre nurse Sylvia Ndada told Mokonyane that patients waiting for elective surgery were bumped off theatre lists for those needing emergency treatment. She said problems had worsened since the Gauteng department of health had recently reduced paid overtime from 72 hours a month to 36 hours a month.

Mokonyane said: "You can't have excessive working hours.

"The solution is not overworked staff, we need more hands."

Obstetrics and gynaecology professor Guidozzi Franco said a shortage of anaesthetists and nurses led to delays of as long as six hours for pregnant women needing emergency operations.

He said there were "bottlenecks" at all Gauteng hospitals that caused delays in maternity wards.

"We can't run two theatres 24 hours at a time.

"There is a still a moratorium on hiring at all levels: medical officers, registrars and specialists.

"There have been concessions. It is still not optimal."

Franco said he had handed a plan to the health department in May that detailed a strategic response to the problems in maternity wards in southern Gauteng.

Mokonyane said: "In every Gauteng cabinet meeting we discuss this. This is how seriously we take the matter."