‘Crime scene’
Klebsiella outbreak hospital still operational
THE neonatal unit where six newborn babies died of Klebsiella is still fully operational and will not be closed.
Gauteng head of hospital services, Dr Medupi Modisane, yesterday made a U-turn on Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s announcement that babies would be moved from the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital’s neonatal ward, which is currently battling an outbreak of Klebsiella.
At least six babies have died since July 11, while two others are still fighting the disease at the hospital in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni.
“After careful consideration… the babies will not be moved,” Modisane said yesterday. The SA Human Rights Commission provincial manager, Buang Jones, led a team of investigators to the hospital for an inspection.
The 61-bed unit currently has 52 babies, with nurses revealing the hospital is massively understaffed.
“We have currently got 26 professional nurses, eight enrolled nurses and 28 auxiliary nurses.
“We are short of 26 professional nurses and short 40 enrolled nurses,” said a nurse, adding that the unit should also have a total of 56 auxiliary nurses.
“It is a crime scene,” said Jones. “The sense we get is that this is not (being) treated like an emergency. It is a disaster and heads should roll,” Jones told the hospital’s clinical manager, Constance Ndobe.
“It is (an emergency). There is a lot that has been done. Other hospitals have been helping us,” said Ndobe.
On Sunday, Motsoaledi announced that babies would be moved to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, both of which are in Parktown, Joburg.
Thelle Mogoerane does not have a chief executive after Nomonde Mqhayi-Mbambo was placed on special leave over allegations that she ignored warnings that overcrowding in the ward would increase the spread of infections.
Jones said the commission had found that the outbreak constituted a prima facie violation of the right to access to healthcare.
“From our assessment as the commission, there is a deep-rooted leadership problem at this hospital.
“A leadership crisis in Gauteng hospitals and at the Health Department is collapsing the health sector in Gauteng. This is a big concern for the commission.
“We are pained as a commission that 24 years into democracy, we still have kids that are dying due to poor management and poor healthcare in the province,” Jones said.