EFF Gauteng statement following the death of 788 babies in Tembisa hospital

8 June 2023

The Economic Fighters Gauteng is greatly alarmed by the report that out of the 50 000 babies in the past three years, 788 died in Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital.

In responding to questions submitted to her in Provincial Legislature, the MEC for Health and Wellness in Gauteng, Nomantu Nkorno-Ralehoko that 1.6% of babies died in the last three years in Tembisa Hospital, with an annual breakdown of 237 in 2020/21, 271 in 2021/22, and 280 in 2022/23 due to infections, immaturity, hypoxia, and other diseases.

The MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko did not waste time jumping in defense of the department and the hospital by denying any cases of negligence and shifting the blame to the high influx of patients and shortage of equipment, as if to suggest that the death of almost 800 babies is just another natural occurrence and that no one is to be held accountable.

The EFF wishes to highlight the fact that the untimely death of these babies, the risk of their mothers’ lives, and shuttering of their dreams took place in the same period during which over R1 billion was looted in Tembisa Hospital through fraud, corruption and irregular expenditure.

This money was meant to capacitate the hospital in terms of nurses, doctors, and hospital machines such as, MIR scanners, ultrasound, EEG Machines and other necessary resources.

The death of these babies could have been avoided had it not been for corruption and negligence of the ANC government and hospital officials. Some of these officials have not been held account despite being implicated by the SIU Forensic Report on the very same Tembisa Hospital.

It is worth noting that this is not an isolated incident as the MEC also revealed that of the 1565 neonatal deaths in Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital between 2020 and 2023, 909 of them were avoidable incidents of negligence. In Baragwanath Hospital, the problems are not different from those of Tembisa Hospital; corruption, particularly within the Supply Chain Management in terms of tender processing is the reason for the shortages of staff and the incompetency and corruption of the ANC government in Gauteng have failed thousands of mothers and denied their babies the right to life and the situation will persist for as mg as the same people continue to preside over the affairs.

The EFF will be taking steps to ensure that the Tembisa Hospital and government Officials are held accountable. We will also do this with Baragwanath Hospital Officials. The simple explanation by MEC Nkorno-Ralehoko without individuals taking responsibility is not satisfactory.

We call on the government to act quickly in improving maternity wards and ensuring there are competent staff members and machines to avoid further neonatal deaths in hospitals across the province.

The EFF further calls for the arrest of those who were named in the SIU Report on Tembisa Hospital, further delays in holding these people to account only serve to motivate other criminals to continue looting resources allocated for public health in Gauteng.

Issued by Nkululeko Dunga, Provincial Chairperson, EFF, 9 June 2023