Thousands of patients in the Northern Cape are waiting for surgery as the province’s only tertiary hospital, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital in Kimberley, struggles to keep up with demand.
Among those waiting is Alfred Montshe, 65, who says he has been waiting more than four years for a prostate operation after being referred from Gariep Hospital. Montshe says he injured himself while still employed, and the injury led to further medical complications. When his condition worsened, he sought treatment and was told he needed a prostate operation. He said he has consistently been told to return at a later date whenever he consults a doctor.
“They have now given me a checkup date for next January. Everytime I go to the hospital, my next dates are always after a year or six months. I never get the help I need. All I am asking for is help. I am not well emotionally, this makes me feel less of a man,” Montshe says.
The Northern Cape Department of Health says its clinical review team had reviewed Montshe’s file and disputed aspects of his account.
Department spokesperson Lebogang Majaha says the patient’s records show his last visit to the facility was in 2022, which differs from the timeline presented.
“We can confirm that the last time the patient was seen at the facility was in 2022. That is contrary to the years that was depicted in the picture. In the main, we can also ascertain that from the time the patient was assessed, there was nothing pertaining to the patient being scheduled on the patient waiting list for surgery that we can confirm,” Majaha says.
She adds that the patient had not kept a follow-up appointment.
“The only assessment was based on the current issues at hand. Due to other health concerns, the patient was scheduled accordingly, but we did of course indicate that the patient would be reassessed through the urology department, of which the patient never honoured that follow-up appointment in 2022,” says Majaha.
According to the National Council of Provinces’ 2025 Oversight Visit report on the status of healthcare services in the Northern Cape, an estimated 7 906 patients are on the province’s surgical waiting list.
Reporting by: Warren Engelbrecht