RUSTENBURG - North West Health member of the executive council (MEC) Madoda Sambatha wants drastic actions taken after a newborn baby was placed in a warmer only to be discovered later badly burned at the Mahikeng Provincial Hospital.
"It is unacceptable that our people are subjected to this kind of treatment. We have been entrusted with taking care of the lives of our people and the most vulnerable members of our society," Sambatha said on his visit to the hospital on Thursday.
"It is shocking that some of our health professionals are careless about the lives of our people in the Mahikeng Provincial Hospital. Such people must face consequences for negligence of their duties and patients. I am determined to restore a sense of service in this hospital and anyone who neglects the call for service must be ready to face serious actions."
The hospital arranged a specialised service at a private facility in Pretoria for the baby and mother, following Sambatha's intervention, but the baby died en-route to the private facility.
He visited the hospital accompanied by the Health and Social Development Committee chairperson Priscilla Williams to follow up on recent patient complaints.
He received a complaint from a patient who was mistreated by the nursing staff who, instead of providing the medical assistance to the patient, labelled the patient as the MEC's patient.
"Shockingly the MEC learnt that no action was taken by the hospital management against the nurses involved despite having reported the complaint to the management," his spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane said.
"In another shocking incident by the provincial hospital an administration clerk is reported to have instructed patients to go back home without being seen by a doctor or even a nurse. Even on this one, no action was taken against the administration clerk. On this one, the MEC has instructed action to be taken against managers failed to discipline the admin officer."