Sebokeng Hospital this past week performed its first brain surgeries in 40 years on two patients suffering from subdural haemotoma (bleeding into the brain).
This milestone comes after the recent establishment of a neurosurgery unit at the hospital.
Previously, Sebokeng Hospital referred patients in need of brain surgery to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.
Acting CEO of the hospital Dr Fhatuwani Mbara said many patients who presented at the facility with traumatic brain injury (TBI) died due to a lack of immediate neurosurgical interventions.
“TBI patients were occupying ICU beds for a prolonged duration with no definite management plan because the majority of the patients require different types of operations ranging from skull and brain to spine surgeries.
“The newly established unit and the highly skilled team we have will ensure that we reduce head injury-related deaths sustained by our patients, especially men of younger age groups,” said Dr Mbara.
The first patient experienced weakness on the right side of his body and was unable to walk or talk. The neurosurgery team did a craniotomy on him, stopped the bleeding and removed the blood clot. The operation took two hours.
The second patient is a young man who was injured three months ago and had subdural haemotoma. A craniotomy was also done on him and the clot removed, but his brain was severely swollen due to the injury. The team did a cranioplasty to protect the brain from potential physical harm.
The two patients have recovered well and were discharged this past weekend to spend time with their families at home.
The Gauteng department of health said the establishment of a neurosurgery unit reduced the high prevalence of mortality and morbidity of traumatic brain injury patients in the Sedibeng district.
Gauteng MEC for health and wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko congratulated the team, saying the surgery bore evidence of the support given by the department to capacitate its centres of excellence by ensuring that health facilities have the right skills and equipment.
“As part of reclaiming the jewel of the Gauteng public health system, this was one of our key focus areas — to ensure that our facilities function optimally and that infrastructure challenges are addressed, as this has a direct bearing on positive health outcomes," said Nkomo-Ralehoko.
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