The parents of a young boy who urgently needs life-saving ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt surgery feared that he might die because Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital had no shunts available for the past month for doctors to perform the procedure.
Every day that goes by without Clewen Smith, 6, having the surgery means that the fluid continues to build up in his brain.
He has now been waiting for more than 30 days.
However, the provincial health department said on Sunday night that progress had been made in procuring the device and that little Clewen would undergo the surgery on Tuesday.
The embattled department initially did not have the medical equipment needed for the surgery, allegedly because it failed to pay its supplier.
Clewen’s father, Michael Otto, had pleaded on Facebook for assistance in contacting premier Oscar Mabuyane and health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth to ask them to urgently intervene to save their son.
“How many kids must lose their lives? Please, please help,” Otto wrote.
Sitting beside Clewen’s hospital bed — where she has spent the past 30 days — his mother, Melissa Smith, said it appeared that his condition was deteriorating daily.
On March 1, he celebrated his sixth birthday in hospital but had to do so without his twin brother, Lewen, for the first time since their birth.
Smith said doctors noticed that Clewen had a build-up of fluids on his brain when she was eight months’ pregnant with the twin boys.
At this point, doctors delivered the twins by way of a caesarean section.
Though Lewen was in perfect health, Clewen had to have shunt surgery when he was a month old.
In August 2021, at the age of five, he started complaining of splitting headaches.
“Clewen had to be rushed to the hospital,” Smith said.
“Doctors could determine that the shunt implanted as a baby had a blockage.
“They drained some of the fluids and replaced the shunt in November.”
However, just as Smith began to believe their worries were over, Clewen’s shunt had another blockage in early February.
On February 7, he was transported to the Provincial Hospital and then to Livingstone, where he has been confined to his bed ever since.
Otto said the hospital’s staff had informed the family that Clewen’s operation could not be done immediately because no VP shunts were available.
“As time went on, we kept on asking the nurses and doctors what was causing the holdup.
“During a meeting with one of the matrons and hospital management, we were told that the hospital was cash-strapped and did not pay its supplier.
“We were not given any indication of when the issue would be resolved.
“My son has been in hospital, waiting for 30 days now, even though getting the operation is critical.”
Smith said another child in Clewen’s ward was awaiting the same operation.
Otto said: “We are desperate and on our knees begging the department to help our child before it’s too late.
“Both my partner and I are not working, so we are in dire straits, mentally, emotionally and financially.
“I was laid off from my job six months ago because the merchandising company I was working at did not survive the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Health department spokesperson Yonela Dekeda said due to patient confidentiality, and Clewen being a minor, she could not discuss his medical details without parental consent.
“We can, however, confirm that 10 shunts have been ordered from the supplier on tender.
“The supplies arrived this past Friday, but only had the 10 inducers in the box, and not the shunts.
“The clinical team leader contacted the company and the shunts are expected to arrive on Monday.
“The specific patient is planned for Tuesday’s theatre list,” Dekeda said.
She said certain companies withheld further orders if their accounts were in arrears at a provincial level, despite the facility having an available budget.
In such instances, credit terms were negotiated with the supplier.
“Both public and private facilities globally and in our own country focus on emergencies and thus have a backlog in elective surgical cases.
“As we emerge from the recent Covid-19 surges, Livingstone tertiary hospital is preparing to commence tackling the elective surgical backlogs that arose during the pandemic,” Dekeda said.
In December, DA Eastern Cape MPL Jane Cowley raised concerns over service providers that had gone unpaid for months.
This meant medical devices required for surgeries could not be procured.
According to Cowley, successful medico-legal claims against the department had depleted budgets across all programmes in the health sector, rendering it unable to fulfil its mandates or pay its bills.
Contingent liability against the provincial health department now stands at R38bn.
HeraldLIVE