A staggering 1338 babies died at birth at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital over the last three years; Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa revealed.
This emerged from a written reply by Ramokgopa to Jack Bloom, the DA's health spokesperson in the provincial legislature.
The reply shows that 446 babies died at birth in 2014, 466 in 2015 and 426 last year. The total number of births over the period was 61 507, representing a death rate of roughly 2%.
Bloom said in a statement that this figure was "distressing", but added that this number was explained by the "more complicated" births being referred to the hospital.
Factors causing the deaths included premature birth, infection, asphyxia (lack of oxygen) and congenital (or inherent) abnormalities.
According to Bloom, the health MEC said that no negligence was involved in these deaths or in babies who became brain damaged after birth.
However, Bloom said he was not convinced that negligence was not involved in these alarming numbers, citing the hospital "huge payouts" in negligence cases.
"R514 million has been paid to 44 claimants since January 2015," Bloom stated.
"In one case alone, R36.8m was paid for the lifetime costs of a baby with cerebral palsy caused by negligence at the hospital."