Overworked South African doctors are botching surgical operations

By bne IntelliNews May 3, 2010
Overworked SouthAfrican doctors are botching surgical operations and have even left gloves andscissors in patients bodies in both private and public hospitals, the local SundayIndependent newspaper reported. Norman Mabasa, chairman of the South AfricanMedical Association, said that even if all the doctors in the private sector joinedthe public sector, their numbers would still be lower than the WHO guidelines;the doctor patient ratio is presently 1:4,000, showing a critical shortage thatforces doctors to work long hours. In the last two years, the negligence hascost the state over ZAR 1bn in law suits.

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