By Mapaballo Borotho
- The Gauteng Department of Health says it is making progress in improving access to surgical procedures through its Treatment Time Guarantee platform.
- More than 80,000 surgical procedures have reportedly been tracked since the system was introduced.
- Officials say the initiative is helping reduce backlogs, improve patient prioritisation and strengthen theatre management across public hospitals.
The Gauteng Department of Health says it is beginning to see positive results in efforts to improve access to surgical procedures at public hospitals.
This follows the rollout of the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) platform, which aims to strengthen patient management systems and increase the number of surgical procedures performed across Gauteng hospitals.
The platform enables hospitals to track patients from the assessment stage through to booked procedures and completed surgeries, improving visibility of waiting lists, patient prioritisation, accountability and theatre utilisation.
Gauteng Health spokesperson Steve Mabona said more than 80,000 surgical procedures have been tracked through the platform so far.
He said this also reflects the number of procedures completed since the implementation of the TTG system.
“The current provincial surgical waiting list burden stands at 43,421 patients across Gauteng public hospitals. This includes 29,098 legacy cases captured manually, 761 current cases captured on the TTG, 5,443 patients on registration lists awaiting assessment and scheduling, and 8,199 patients already booked for theatre procedures,” said Mabona.
Mabona said the department continues to use the TTG platform to improve prioritisation and management of surgical cases in order to accelerate patient access to care.
While surgical demand remains high, particularly at tertiary and central hospitals, Mabona said the increased surgical throughput recorded through the TTG system reflects measurable progress in reducing legacy backlogs, improving patient flow and strengthening the management of current surgical cases.
“To further improve surgical throughput, the department continues to implement surgical marathons, weekend catch-up programmes, extended theatre sessions and targeted surgical blitzes focused on high-demand procedures,” he added.
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