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The Executive Committee of the Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA), as a proxy of its membership, gives credence to reports of the current healthcare crisis in the Eastern Cape. Multiple valid concerns have been raised by the frontline essential workers. The situation is dire, as surgeons report attempting to save lives in filthy and inhumane conditions.

Read more or Download the Signed PDF Statement here.

Federation of Surgeons of South Africa consensus document for the resumption of elective surgery after level 5 COVID -19 “lockdown” period in South Africa.

Download the Consensus here.

Along with Surgicom, ASSA encourage the immediate postponement of all elective and non-essential surgery during the 21-day lock-down announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. This will reduce traffic through our hospitals and therefore reduce contact and risk of transmission, protect healthcare professionals, improve the availability of personnel when really needed and spare precious resources (masks, gloves, alcohol) that are already in critically short supply.

We anticipate that urgent and semi-urgent surgery will continue through this time but we must anticipate logistical difficulties as hospital and ICU beds become occupied with Covid-19 patients.

We are in uncharted territory as a South African surgical community. The COVID-19 outbreak has been declared a global pandemic by the WHO and our South African President has appropriately responded by declaring a “national state of disaster” in order to activate national procedures.

There will be many updates on information and how we as surgeons will be expected to assist, as such ASSA will endeavour to keep the surgical community updated as this information is constantly and rapidly changing.

Click here to read the full statement.

The Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA) has noted with grave concern the arrest of a surgeon and anesthetist following the death of a patient as a result of elective surgery. Although both surgeon and anesthetist have subsequently been released on surety, this unprecedented move by the authorities raises serious disquiet around the practice of surgery and anesthesia in South Africa, with potential detrimental implications for the delivery of quality healthcare.

Click here to read the full statement.

Surgical training and practice in South Africa currently face many challenges, both internal and external. Although mentorship and other educational programmes exist, these are not readily available in all local training centres.

This survey was designed to obtain some understanding of the difficulties trainees and qualified surgeons are currently facing. The intention is not to replicate work already done, but to further enhance our understanding of these challenges in order to inform how these can be mitigated.

Read more.

The Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA) was founded in 1943 as a non-profit organization and is the body that represents General Surgeons in South Africa. Other specific surgical interest groups such as SASES, VASSA, TSSA and the CSSA are members of the ASSA executive committee and represented by ASSA on the South African Medical Association (SAMA) boards.

Our members represent the majority of General Surgeons in South Africa. ASSA aims to act constructively to address relevant issues. The better represented ASSA is by its membership the stronger its voice becomes.