Pregnant women can now look forward to better maternity care in Gauteng.
Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said this week ten maternal homes would be set up to improve the care of pregnant women.
DA MPL Jack Bloom said the first maternal home in Pretoria would be established by the Pretoria West hospital.
“This will hopefully assist to ensure that babies in high-risk cases are born healthy.”
According to Bloom, Mahlangu said the homes should also reduce the number of lawsuits against the department because of babies not properly cared for at birth.
“She disclosed on Wednesday before the public accounts committee of the Gauteng legislature that the department has paid more than R160 million in medical lawsuits since 2012,” Bloom said.
The maternal homes would house expectant mothers with high-risk pregnancies in a friendly environment with medical care around the clock.
“On the West Rand, two homes will be established, one within Carletonville hospital and another at Yusuf Dadoo hospital,” said Bloom.
“At Ekurhuleni, one will be established at Bertha Gxowa hospital, and in Johannesburg, at South Rand hospital.”
Another would be built at Johan Heyns community health centre in Vanderbijlpark.
Bloom said the homes would make a difference if high-risk cases were detected at an early stage of a mother’s pregnancy.
Less than half of all expectant mothers presently attended ante-natal clinics in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
“The broader problem of negligence in maternity wards requires sufficient staff, an improvement in their attitude and skills, and proper equipment,” Bloom said.
“Maternal homes can play an important role, but general care in hospital maternity units also needs to be improved.”
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