Disappointed

I am highly disappointed in Albert Luthuli Hospital. Yes, I know we have all been affected by Covid, but more and more places seem to be using this as an every day excuse for not doing necessary work and most people are being complacent and accepting that this is just how it is. Well, I am not going to. I know of an African lady who needed an URGENT hip operation in March this year and is a patient at Albert Luthuli hospital and because of Covid they put it off. She is in constant pain and all the hospital does is give her Panado for the pain. Panado does not take this type of pain away!!!!! She has now been told that her operation has been put off until March next year!!!! How can you make a person wait that long? I have contacted the hospital and got told that they may contact her at short notice which is most likely not going to happen and they tell me they only have two slates a week for knee replacements and hip replacements. This is shocking!!!! They say that all the other slates are for paediatric, other operations and emergencies. I have never heard of any hospital working like this!!! I was told they had 400 people on their waiting list. Well, I worked out that you could do those 400 people in two months if you have enough slates. Surely this selective surgery is as important if not more important than the every day operations. Here in both cases you are helping people to walk again. So many people land up in wheelchairs because of the pain, that they can't walk. Hips and knees carry the body and the hospital just couldn't care. It seems that they would rather have a person die than actually help them. In the oath they take as Doctors, they pledge to help their patients. This is not helping their patients, this is just causing more and more agonising pain and discomfort. Something needs to be done and the way the hospital runs needs to be reviewed. I have always looked at Albert Luthuli Favourably, but not any more. I am shocked that they could treat people like this in such an inhumane way.