• The Democratic Alliance says many heart patients die during surgery and the hospital head should be suspended for a check.

• A senior surgeon left the hospital because junior doctors were bullied and management is accused of covering up the deaths.

Heart patients are dying during surgery at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is worried about poor results in the heart surgery department.

The party says these results put lives at risk. It wants an independent check into how the hospital is run.

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A senior surgeon left the hospital in October last year. The doctor said surgery results were poor and training was not good. The surgeon also spoke about junior doctors being bullied. There was a lack of talk between staff and bosses. The surgeon asked for the head of the department, Dr Tumi Taunyane, to be suspended.

The Gauteng Department of Health said death rates fell by more than 70% between 2023 and 2025. It said there is no proof that the system is failing. But the DA said the death rate could be about 20%. This is much higher than other countries where three% would lead to a check.

The DA said fewer heart surgeries are being done now. The hospital does about 200 a year. It used to do many more.

The party said this makes the death numbers look better while many patients do not get the help they need. The health department said there is a lot of fighting among staff. It said this could hurt patient care and safety in the surgery rooms.

The DA has asked the Health Ombud to look into the case. It wants the hospital to be open about how many people die. The surgeon said that the hospital bosses could be covering up the deaths. He said refusing to have a check makes people worry.

Junior doctors also asked Wits University for help but they were ignored. The surgeon said this could look like a deliberate cover up. He said the results are very poor at this hospital right now.