“Which are Gauteng’s most dangerous hospitals?” – Jack Bloom
‘Negligent acts in state hospitals should not be secret information as the public have the right to know which hospitals are most negligent in treating patients’-Bloom
Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu has disclosed that there were 503 Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) in Gauteng state hospitals in 2015, but has declined to name the hospitals where these negligent acts occurred.
A SAE is defined as an event that results in an unintended harm to the patient by an act of commission or omission rather than by the underlying disease or condition of the patient.
In a written reply to the Democratic Alliances Gauteng MEC Shadow for Health Jack Bloom‘s questions in the Gauteng Legislature, she says that serious adverse events involved among others allegations of negligence, incompetence of staff members, abscondment of patients and system failure.
But when Bloom asked in which hospital each event occurred Mahlangu said, “Four central, three tertiary, eight regional, twelve district and three specialized hospitals.”
This is a cover-up to avoid disclosing which are the most dangerous hospitals for patients in Gauteng.
“Tembisa Hospital had the worst SAE record, with 71 SAEs recorded from January 2012 to September 2013.
“Other dangerous hospitals were Chris Hani Baragwanath and Jubilee, which both recorded 64 SAEs for this period,” she said.
According to previous replies Bloom received from the Gauteng Health Department, the recorded SAEs have jumped over the years as follows:
2011 – 239 SAEs
2012 – 373 SAEs
January to September 2013 – 532 SAEs
Bloom said, “I will put in an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to get the SAE information for individual hospitals.
“Negligent acts in state hospitals should not be secret information as the public have the right to know which hospitals are most negligent in treating patients.”
