Doctors cut down long wait for help

Some doctors are giving up their weekends to operate on children at the Red Cross Children's Hospital to help put a dent in long waiting lists. Dr Sharon Cox - a general surgeon who organises the "Saturday Surgeries" - said performing operations at weekends clears the list of all minor surgeries to create space for bigger procedures midweek.

The programme, which the hospital provides with the help of private donor funding, performs day surgeries such as ENT and other corrective paediatric operations such as hernia removal, and MRI scans, at weekends.

Through the project, the hospital has performed 220 corrective surgeries in the past three years. Western Cape health MEC Theuns Botha said because of pressures hospitals faced, the so-called minor surgeries were often pushed aside to perform emergency procedures. He said the Saturday surgeries reduced the waiting list by up to six months.

Cape Argus, 19 August 2014