Pleuro-pulmonary disease in central South Africa: A thoracic surgical deficiency

We wished to estimate the performance gap between thoracic surgical service provision and the burden of thoracic surgical disease in central South Africa (SA). We compared burden of disease data to the number of thoracic operations performed for inflammatory pleuro-pulmonary disease and primary lung...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:South African medical journal 2010-08, Vol.100 (8), p.510-512
Main Authors: Linegar, A, van Zyl, G, Smit, F, Goldstraw, P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Care and treatment
Chest
Cost of Illness
Government finance
Health care reform
Humans
Laws, regulations and rules
Lung diseases
Lung Diseases - epidemiology
Lung Neoplasms - epidemiology
Middle Aged
Pleural Diseases - epidemiology
Primary health care
South Africa - epidemiology
Surgery
Thoracic Surgery - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:We wished to estimate the performance gap between thoracic surgical service provision and the burden of thoracic surgical disease in central South Africa (SA). We compared burden of disease data to the number of thoracic operations performed for inflammatory pleuro-pulmonary disease and primary lung cancer. The performance gap was estimated to be a factor of 1:20 for lung cancer and 1:10 for thoracic surgery as a whole. The extent of under-provision of thoracic surgical services in central SA demonstrates that urgent major healthcare system reforms are required at all levels to address the significant performance gap between service provision by thoracic surgery and the burden of disease in central SA.
ISSN:0256-9574
DOI:10.7196/SAMJ.3970