GAUTENG'S KILLER HOSPITALS

Tembisa Hospital is Gauteng's most dangerous hospital, with 71 Serious Adverse Events (SAE) recorded from January 2012 to September 2013.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Hope Papo in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

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.

It includes allegations of negligence, sexual assault, suicide and attempted suicide, skills gap, systems failure and errors.

According to Papo, progressive discipline, referral to the police and referral to statutory bodies are steps following an SAE.

Other hospitals with high negligence over this period include the following:

Jubilee Hospital - 64 SAEs

Chris Hani Baragwanath - 64 SAEs

Bertha Gxowa - 44 SAEs

Sterkfontein - 40 SAEs

Pretoria West - 39 SAEs

Tshwane District - 38 SAEs

Charlotte Maxeke - 38 SAEs

Kopanong - 37 SAEs

Sebokeng - 37 SAEs

The safest hospital is the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child hospital which recorded only 4 SAEs. Edenvale Hospital recorded 5 SAEs and Steve Biko Academic recorded 9 SAEs, which is impressive for a large hospital.

The Far East Rand Hospital recorded 12 SEAs, which is a big improvement after negligence in some horrific cases that led to multi-million rand court-ordered pay-outs,.

There were altogether 373 recorded SAEs in Gauteng hospitals and clinics in 2012, which jumped to 532 SAEs for the January to September 2013 period.

In 2011 there were only 229 recorded SAEs.

It is of great concern that negligence cases are rising rapidly.

Special attention must be given to the "killer hospitals" like Tembisa, Jubilee and Chris Hani Baragwanath, which have a disproportionately high number of medical mistakes that harm patients.

Patients should be cured rather than harmed by negligent staff in hospitals.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, March 31 2014

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