Bara maternity ward records no case of negligence
Bara Hospital has recorded 1 565 which makes up 2.9 percent of neonatal deaths in the three years under review.
Bara Hospital has reported no recorded cases of medical negligence in the Neonatal and Maternity Wards in the past three years, despite having delivered 54 244 babies.
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This comes after a new born baby was alleged released to a wrong mother recently. The baby was immediately reunited with his biological mother with the help of a security officer who saw that the name tag on the baby did not match with that of the alleged mother.
The security guard alerted the nursing staff and further investigations were conducted.
When responding to questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, MEC of Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said Bara Hospital has recorded 1 565 which makes up 2.9 percent of neonatal deaths in the three years under review.
However, none of the deaths were due to negligence but other factors such as prematurity, infections, intrapartum hypoxia and congenital anomalies.
“Out of these recorded neonatal deaths, 909 were identified to have possible avoidable factors which includes inadequate infection control, limited neonatal intensive care unit beds, delays in case management and hypothermia,” MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
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In this three years under review, the hospital is said to have delivered 1 443 babies with intrapartum hypoxia and 997 with various stages of encephalopathy with 58 percent having mild encephalophaty, 30 percent with moderate encephalopathy and 12 percent with severe encephalopathy.
Babies born with encephalopathy show signs of brain damage in the long term, and those with mild are likely to show signs of brain damage in the long term while those with moderate will need follow up as it is difficult to predict who will have brain damage in the long-term.
The MEC also indicated that the neonatal and maternity wards have adequate medical and emergency equipment including four brain cooling machines and is awaiting delivery of three more which have been ordered in the 2022/23 financial year as a top up.
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“The hospital always ensures that there are two obstetric theatres functional and an additional third theatre is availed and operational after hours.
“As part of efforts to ensure that the 34 vacant positions do not affect operations at the neonatal and maternity ward, the hospital augments staff shortages with both in-house overtime and the use of nursing agency personnel.”
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