Note to editors: Please find attached English soundbite by Dr Jack Bloom MPL.
Heart patients are dying due to poor surgical outcomes at the grossly mismanaged Cardiothoracic Department of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital but calls for an independent commission of inquiry have been ignored. This has prompted the resignation of a senior surgeon in protest.
I have written to the Health MEC to disclose the real surgery fatality rate. I have also referred this matter to the Health Ombud, Professor Taole Mokoena, for urgent and independent investigation.
I uncovered this disaster after receiving a deliberately misleading reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature regarding heart surgery mortality rates at the hospital. The official response claims a 72.5% decrease in mortality between 2023 and 2025, asserting a “substantial and sustained improvement in patient outcomes,” and concludes there was “no evidence of systemic failure or elevated risk that would necessitate a formal commission of inquiry.”
See reply here.
These claims are directly contradicted by a senior cardiothoracic surgeon who resigned in October last year. In his resignation letter, he cited persistently poor surgical outcomes, a severely compromised training environment, a breakdown in engagement with hospital authorities, and the intimidation of junior doctors.
He wrote: “The continued refusal to establish a commission of inquiry raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability. This reluctance risks conveying the impression of a deliberate cover-up, further undermining trust in the integrity of our academic and clinical institutions.”
Furthermore, he described his resignation as “a principled protest against a system that … has failed its clinicians, its trainees, and – most disturbingly – its patients.”
Prior to his resignation, he called for the immediate suspension of the Head of the Cardiothoracic Department, Dr Tumi Taunyane, following serious grievances raised by registrars. These included allegations of intimidation, lack of academic leadership, and multiple instances of misconduct.
Registrars formally appealed to the Dean of the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Shabir Madi, requesting urgent intervention. This appeal was ignored.
When I questioned the Gauteng Department of Health about complaints against Dr Taunyane, they denied that any formal complaints had been submitted. They admitted, however, that the Wits Vice-Chancellor had raised concerns about “significant dysfunction as a result of a breakdown in relationships among several staff members, including Registrars” which could impact on patient care, surgical service delivery, theatre safety, and clinical training.
My assessment is that there is a disgraceful cover-up by both Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital and Wits Medical School. According to my sources, the actual heart surgery mortality rate at Charlotte Maxeke is approximately 20%, which is a catastrophic failure. Overseas, mortality rates exceeding 2–3% would immediately trigger a formal inquiry.
There has also been an unexplained and dramatic reduction in the number of heart operations performed. The department previously conducted several hundred heart surgeries annually but has now dropped to about 200 a year. This decline allows officials to claim fewer deaths, while the reality is that many critically ill patients are not receiving life-saving surgery at all.
Other issues include poor infrastructure for heart patients at the hospital and the inability to train registrars as so few operations are being done. The solution is to provide training with the private health sector, but this has been turned down for unexplained reasons.
The Democratic Alliance will continue to stand up for patients who deserve high-quality healthcare. Heart surgery at CMJH should be a centre of excellence. It can be rescued by frankly acknowledging the problems, putting the best people in charge, and ensuring there is proper equipment for surgery.