Two Cape Town doctors offer hope to state patients with pro bono surgeries

Pippa Hudson speaks to Dr Deon Engela, specialist orthopaedic surgeon from a private practice called Cape Joint Surgery.

• Dr Deon Engela and Dr Nick Martin are founder of the NPO Joint Care Trust

• The doctors offer pro bono surgery to patients who are waiting months for serious but non-life threatening surgeries

• They're set to perform another 40 joint replacement surgeries in the next financial year

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We all know about the long waiting lists for non-essential surgeries in the public health sector, something which was only exacerbated by the long months of lockdown when such procedures were put on hold.

A patient needing a life changing operation like a cataract operation might wait months to be attended to, if not years, often living with significant discomfort and limited independence in the interim.

A number of different professional bodies have been trying to assist by offering pro bono surgeries and making theatre time available to lessen the backlog.

RELATED: Public hospitals playing catch up amid huge surgical backlog in Western Cape

One such case study is two local orthopedic surgeons from the private sector, who are doing their bit to help.

They are the founders of the Joint Care Trust, a non-profit organisation which is working to reduce the backlog for hip and knee replacements in particular.

Dr Deon Engela and Dr Nick Martin are specialist orthopedic surgeons from a private practice called Cape Joint Surgery.

They've been providing free surgeries to people who have been waiting months for much needed joint replacements.

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We've been doing surgery in government hospitals, pro bono with donated implants.

Dr Deon Engela, co-founder of the Joint Care Trust

We work at Constantiaberg Mediclinic in the private sector. Mediclinic agreed to give us theatre time, and one night's hospital stay for government patients, also at no cost.

Dr Deon Engela, co-founder of the Joint Care Trust

We created a private/government partnership where the patients get sent from the government to a private hospital for their surgery. They have their surgery at no cost to the government or the patient.

Dr Deon Engela, co-founder of the Joint Care Trust

In the new budget we have another 40 replacements available in the next financial year...so we can do another 40 surgeries over the next year.

Dr Deon Engela, co-founder of the Joint Care Trust

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the interview.

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