No doctors left: Staff shortage forces Livingstone Hospital to close outpatient clinics
Livingstone Hospital halts outpatient surgeries due to staff shortages. The DA demands answers as patients suffer and the provincial government remains silent amid growing outrage.
Image: File
Outpatient surgical services at Livingstone Hospital have shut down following a staffing collapse, with the Surgery Department confirming it no longer has doctors available to run the clinics.
In a letter to patients, the department announced that, as of Monday, May 12, 2025, 'no doctors will be available for the numerous outpatient clinics the Surgery Department is responsible for.' The closure follows a year of steady attrition within the surgical team, with no replacements made for departing doctors.
'The Eastern Cape Department of Health has stopped appointing any new doctors,' the department said. It further warned that the remaining medical personnel are now being redirected to emergency services and essential surgeries only.
'This decision has not been taken lightly,' the department said. 'Unfortunately, all our other attempts to get recognition and a response from our leadership have been blatantly ignored.'
Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow MEC for Health, Jane Cowley, confirmed the closure in a public statement on Tuesday.
She said the collapse comes just weeks after the ANC-led provincial government rejected a DA motion proposing immediate, practical steps to reduce the province's elective orthopaedic surgery backlog.
'No doctors remain to staff these critical services. Only enough personnel remain to attend to emergency surgeries. This is not just a crisis ,it is a collapse,' Cowley said.
Livingstone Hospital has long been under pressure, particularly in orthopaedic care. Cowley highlighted that more than 1,300 patients are currently waiting for elective orthopaedic surgeries, yet the hospital has capacity for only 48 such procedures a year.
'Elective surgeries are set to fall even further — perhaps to zero,' she said.
The DA has criticised the provincial health department's refusal to fill vacancies, cutbacks in commuted overtime, and its alleged defiance of national directives.
'Instead of addressing the backlog, the department has slashed commuted overtime, defied national directives from the Director-General of Health, and ignored repeated appeals from medical professionals.
''The result? Outpatient clinics are closed, and surgical backlogs are worsening,' Cowley said.
She also called on the National Director-General of Health to intervene urgently and ensure vacant doctor posts are filled.
'Doctors are overburdened, burnt out, and unsupported, and patients are left in pain — without hope or dignity,' she said.
Cowley added that Eastern Cape MEC for Health, Ntandokazi Capa, and her Head of Department, Dr. Rolene Wagner, must be held accountable for what she described as "reckless and defiant decisions."
She insisted that both officials must appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and answer for the collapse.
According to AlgoaFM News, Sizwe Kupelo, spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Health, responded by stating that the letter announcing the shutdown was "fake news." He added that the department would investigate the origin of the letter.
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