Loss of specialists puts pressure on Charlotte Maxeke, says surgery head

The loss of heart surgeons to the private sector and shortages of specialist staff are putting pressure on heart surgery services at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, according to the head of surgery at the hospital, Professor Thifhelimbilu Luvhengo.

Luvhengo made the remarks following allegations that there was a high mortality rate at the hospital following heart surgeries.

“If you look across the country, public hospitals are struggling to retain cardiac surgeons because they’ve left for private practice. The few that are remaining are being put under pressure.”

Luvhengo said training new specialists had become more difficult as newcomers were less prepared to replace those who were retiring or leaving. “We haven’t created enough buffer for the next group, which is our current challenge.”

On Thursday, Gauteng shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom led a protest outside Wits University, calling on vice-chancellor Prof Zeblon Vilakazi to investigate what the party described as high mortality rates in the hospital’s cardiothoracic department.

Bloom said the issue could become a major scandal if urgent action was not taken. “There might be more people whose lives are lost unnecessarily because of poor management and a cover-up of what’s really happening there.”

Bloom’s concern stems from a question and answer response from legislature which he received from the Gauteng health MEC Faith Mazibuko.

Bloom said Mazibuko’s response gave figures showing a mortality rate of 14% for heart surgery patients in 2025, compared with 19% in 2024 and 21% in 2023.

Bloom questioned the figures and called for an independent investigation into the department’s mortality rates, leadership and training conditions, saying the figures were a cover-up at the hospital’s cardiothoracic department.

“The Gauteng health department was forced to admit that they had lied in their previous reply to me that there was a 72.5% decrease in mortality between 2023 and 2025,” he said.

Bloom said according to the department’s new figures, the mortality rate for heart surgery in 2025 was 14%, 23 deaths out of 166 surgeries.

This compared to 19% mortality in 2024, 21% in 2023, and 12% for July to December 2022.

“They now claim that this reflects a progressive and sustained improvement in outcomes, with an overall 34% reduction in mortality between 2023 and 2025,” he said.

Spokesperson for the Gauteng department Steve Mabona admitted that the previous figure that mortality had decreased by 72.5% between 2023 and 2025 was incorrect because of a data calculation and validation error when preliminary data was being compiled.

“We did not intentionally mislead anyone. The corrected data still shows mortality rates are improving, there is no cover-up, and the hospital is dealing with very complex, high-risk patients. We are also strengthening our reporting systems to prevent future errors,” he said.

The department said the corrected figures showed that mortality rates had been decreasing over the past three years.

According to Mabona, in 2023 there was a 21% mortality rate, followed by 19% in 2024 and 14% in 2025.

He said the number of deaths also declined as they recorded 38 deaths in 2023, 27 deaths in 2024, and 23 deaths in 2025.

“The figures should not be looked at in isolation because Charlotte Maxeke is a tertiary referral hospital that deals with severe disease, multiple health conditions, complicated cases and higher surgical risks,” said Mabona.

TimesLIVE