By Angela Quintal
The families of four infants who died at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital during a power failure in May will not receive compensation, says Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
Replying to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance, she said compensation was not being considered by her department because the deaths were not "a deliberate action or a result of negligence".
Newspaper reports at the time said the incubators and ventilators that had kept the four babies alive shut down during a power outage and the generator failed to kick in.
'She is turning a blind eye to its failings' The power cut happened due to bad weather conditions and affected the entire Mdantsane township.
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Tshabalala-Msimang said steps had been taken to ensure that the existing uninterrupted power supply system in the main ICU ward had been connected to the paediatric ward in question.
"As a future preventative measure an uninterrupted power supply system has been ordered for installation in Ward 16 and 17 as an emergency back-up with duration of four hours uninterrupted power. This will be functional on June 9, 2006," Tshabalala-Msimang said.
In September last year, two babies also died in the hospital after a four-and-a-half hour power cut.
The DA on Tuesday released a statement questioning how many more babies would have to die unnecessarily before Tshabalala-Msimang began to "hold those responsible accountable for their deaths".
"Aside from being callous and cold-hearted, this decision completely ignores the fact that negligence appears to have been a major factor in relation to these deaths.
"Firstly, the incubators should never have been left so vulnerable to a power failure.
"Whoever failed to ensure that all hospital equipment was properly protected from such failures needs to be held accountable," the DA said.
The ministry of health could not be reached for comment.
The DA said in a statement it had been informed that the deaths of the four babies could easily have been prevented had nurses simply wheeled the incubators across to another ward, where the electricity supply was unaffected.
"If this is true, this is a major failure on the part of the hospital, and the reasons for it need to be identified. "
Moreover, the very fact that the hospital had agreed to install an uninterrupted power supply to the ward in question suggested that something was amiss, the DA said.
"There is absolutely no doubt that, had these deaths occurred in a private hospital, the Minister would have been vigorous and loud in her condemnation of the hospital concerned, and would not have hesitated to point a finger at those responsible.
"But because she is responsible for the public hospital system, she is turning a blind eye to its failings."
The Minister's refusal to hold anyone responsible for these deaths was part of a pattern which was making the rehabilitation of the public health sector very difficult, the DA said.
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