A surprise visit to the overburdened maternity section of East London's Frere Hospital has led to Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the deputy health minister, describing the situation as a "national emergency".
The minister found acute shortages of staff and equipment, and situations in which nurses had to "play God" - deciding who would live and who would die.
The hospital was simply not equipped to save the lives of the increasing number of underweight newborn babies, the victims of Aids, poverty and drug abuse. Very small babies were sometimes regarded as stillborn, nurses admitted to the deputy health minister.
A distressed Madlala-Routledge said she saw Frere's combination of problems as an example of a massive systemic crisis, which threatened a breakdown in the delivery of healthcare.
Continues Below ↓
'Certainly, with those kinds of babies referred to it, that hospital needs to be reviewed' "It really shows what is a national emergency, in my view, particularly with infant mortality seen as an important human-development indicator," she said.
South Africa's human-development indicator has been declining continuously, and much of it is blamed on infant mortality, according to United Nations Development Programme sources.
The deputy minister's unannounced two-hour visit to the hospital followed a report in East London's Daily Dispatch this week, which suggested the problems at Frere had led to the deaths of hundreds of babies every year.
A total of 2 000 babies have been stillborn at Frere in the past 14 years and last year's figures appeared to be the highest - a record 199. Maternal death rates are also increasing.
Hospital staff conceded in documents that "most" maternal deaths and stillbirths could have been avoided.
Most mothers with complicated pregnancies in the eastern part of the province are referred to the Frere's maternity section.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
