Time to regional surgical care in rural South Africa

Most surgical referrals to this South African regional hospital came from district hospitals and were for outpatient conditions. The use of telemedicine allowed triage of one quarter of referrals without the need for face-to-face consultation. Median time to operation was less than a month for outpatients; however, there was a high loss to follow-up. Further studies are needed to understand why many PSC did not access outpatient care.