A crippling linen shortage at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital is forcing the cancellation of surgeries and compromising patient care — a stark reflection of a public healthcare system in distress.

As staff scramble to deliver essential services amid broken laundry machines, power outages, and dwindling resources, fears are growing that this is no longer just an operational hiccup, but a full-blown crisis putting lives at risk.

Independent Media received a press release from the DA on Thursday morning, highlighting the ongoing linen crisis at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. In response, we visited the facility later that afternoon to verify the claims. On arrival, however, there was little visible evidence of dirty linen lying around, and the situation appeared relatively under control.

It appeared that efforts had been made to tidy up following the release of the public statement. This theory was later supported by a follow-up call received on Friday from an anonymous staff member, who revealed that a limited supply of clean sheets had suddenly been distributed to some wards the day before - after two weeks of severe shortages.

The staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, spoke about the chaos at the hospital, saying not only the linen dilemma but also persistent issues related to load shedding and a significant shortage of staff.

The staff member highlighted that the hospital's in-house laundry machinery remains in storage, and the alternative facility at Dunswart has exacerbated the problem with its own machines malfunctioning.

Following the complaint, Independent Media visited the hospital, where everything appeared to be in order. There were no visible signs of dirty linen lying around.

It is revealed that the impact of the linen shortage extends to critical areas such as the operating theatre, where surgeries cannot proceed without clean bedclothes.

“It has jumped into another week now. We are struggling with linen. Remember we had the same challenge before. And the story was that the machines in Bara are broken. And when our machines are broken, we wash at Dunswart laundry. And this time their machines were not working either. Then we had a problem. We could not get clean sheets in the hospital. Yesterday they tried to supply a few sheets in the wards. Some wards are submission wards; we are unable to function without sheets. In the theatre, patients are being cancelled because you can’t operate on patients on dirty linen or on a bed without linen. If you do that, then you are spreading infections,” they revealed.

The staff member recounted a recent incident where the hospital was left without electricity for up to 10 hours, stressing the impact of such interruptions on patient care.

“This hospital is big, and we can not experience the same problem and can’t solve it. Bara is such a big hospital in such a way that you need to have a contingency plan in place. Another problem that we have is load shedding is hitting the hospital like crazy, and the generators do not switch on. Last week we spent 6 to 10 hours without electricity. So you can imagine we are playing with the lives of our people. And there is provision. We are dealing with several problems, more especially the linen.”

This crisis is not new, in December 2024, similar concerns were raised by Independent Media, indicating a prolonged struggle with malfunctioning laundry equipment in certain wards.

The DA in Gauteng has issued a statement of outrage, calling upon the hospital’s CEO, Dr Nthabiseng Makgana, to resign.

Makgana has been under scrutiny regarding her appointment process, with the auditor general noting that she was appointed irregularly due to a lack of the necessary qualifications. “Providing clean laundry is a basic hospital function that should not be difficult to achieve,” the DA stated.

“If necessary, private laundries can be used instead.”

Independent Media contacted both the Gauteng Provincial and National Departments of Health for comment and while the department revealed that a management meeting was held earlier this week to address the crisis, it did not provide detailed responses to a list of specific questions.

“I raised the matter in our management meeting this morning so that the relevant officials can assist with a response,” the department said in its response.

Saturday Star

anita.nkonki@inl.co.za