After a terrifying month-long wait during which his health drastically deteriorated, a young Kariega boy finally received the life-saving ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt surgery he needed at Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital on Tuesday morning.
It was joy and celebrations all round as Clewen Smith, 6, was wheeled out of theatre.
The holdup was due to a shortage of shunts after the embattled Eastern Cape health department apparently failed to pay its supplier.
Clewen was admitted to Livingstone Hospital on February 7, but the youngster and his parents found themselves praying as they waited for shunts to become available.
Parents Melissa Smith and Michael Otto told The Herald about their agonising wait at the weekend.
As the days went by, fluid continued to build up on Clewen’s brain, raising fears that he might die.
Clewen also had to spend his sixth birthday in hospital on March 1 without his twin brother, Lewen, who was anxiously waiting at home.
Clewen first had shunt surgery when he was a month old.
In August 2021, at the age of five, he started complaining of splitting headaches.
Doctors discovered there was a blockage in the shunt that had been implanted when he was a baby.
The shunt was replaced in November, but another blockage occurred early in February.
Shortly after Clewen’s operation on Tuesday, Otto said the family was relieved that the operation had finally been done.
“The operation went well and doctors replaced the shunt.
“We hope and pray that his recovery process will go smoothly and that he goes back to being his bubbly self in no time,” Otto said.
Though grateful, Clewen’s parents said they were still not happy that he was made to wait so long for the surgery.
“One has to wonder whether Clewen would still have been waiting had we not spoken out about his plight.
“The stress that the department officials made us endure was terrible,” Otto said.
“I don’t know who needs to up the ante, but the health department and state hospitals need a serious shake-up.
“The people in this province deserve quality health care and they are certainly not getting it at the moment.”
Three days ago, when asked for an explanation, the provincial health department said progress had been made in procuring the device and that Clewen’s surgery would be performed on Tuesday.
Department spokesperson Yonela Dekeda said at the time that 10 shunts had been ordered from the supplier on tender, but when the boxes arrived they only contained the 10 inducers and not the shunts.
She said that certain companies withheld further orders if their accounts were in arrears at a provincial level, despite the facility having an available budget.
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