By Yoliswa Sobuwa.
The Gauteng Health Department has reported that 788 newborns died at Tembisa Hospital due to infections, immaturity-related complications, hypoxia and congenital anomalies since 2020.
Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko was responding to DA questions at the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
The department was asked about the maternity and neonatal wards at Tembisa Hospital, and how many babies were born between 2020 and 2022. It was also asked how many babies died during this period and how many of those babies were born with brain damage.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said 50 000 babies were delivered at Tembisa Hospital in the past three years. Of that number, 237 died in 2020/21, 271 in 2021/22 and 280 in 2022/23.
“In a bid to improve the quality of care at Tembisa Hospital’s neonatal and maternity department, equipment such as an EEG [electroencephalogram] machine, MRI scan and ultrasound machine with cranial and cardiac probes has been included in the 2023/24 demand plan and National Tertiary Services Grant business plan,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
Issues and resource challenges such as facility staff and equipment shortages have been prioritised.
“To augment existing posts, the facility has now filled 25 of the 32 posts that were recently advertised, while 15 professional nurses and 10 enrolled nurses started work on Thursday last week. Three posts of enrolled nursing assistants are in the process of being filled, with job adverts having closed last month,” she said.
DA health spokesperson Jack Bloom said he was concerned that the percentage of infection deaths had risen to 37%, much higher than the 25.1% infection deaths in 2020.
Hypoxia-related deaths (due to lack of oxygen) were also up to 15.2%, compared with 11% last year and 14.8% the year before.
He said: This is a disturbing upward trend in deaths from causes that could have been avoided with better care. The department claims that “there are no definitive cases of negligence established”, but admits to “an issue of resource constraints due to issues of the overwhelming number of patients.
Bloom added that, as in the case of infant deaths at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in the south of Johannesburg, officials seem to be in denial that many babies could have been saved if adequate staff and equipment had been provided.
“Tembisa Hospital has been rocked by scandal due to massive irregular and wasted spending amounting to R1 billion over the past three years, according to a Special Investigating Unit report. This shows that it is not a shortage of money, but a shortage of competent and honest management that dooms many babies to die from avoidable causes,” he said.