Klebsiella outbreak causes death of six babies
Various health workers unions attribute the outbreak to overcrowding, staff shortages and the CEO’s, Dr Nomonde Mqhayi-Mbambo, inability to perform her duties.
Since the outbreak of the Klebsiella infection at the troubled Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital in Vosloorus in July, six babies have been reported dead because of the disease.
Various health workers unions attribute the outbreak to overcrowding, staff shortages and the CEO’s, Dr Nomonde Mqhayi-Mbambo, inability to perform her duties.
Mqhayi-Mbamo has been relieved of her duties.
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After the death of the sixth baby on September 11, the Department of Health in Gauteng has released a statement stating the reason behind the outbreak.
Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Lesimang Maduka said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) was called in during August by the MEC for Health in Gauteng, Dr Gwendoline Ramokgopa, to investigate and make recommendations.
“The report revealed the cause of the outbreak being the extreme overcrowding which creates conditions for the infection to take place and spread, low birth-weight of babies due to prematurity caused by a multitude of social factors among which are teenage pregnancy, and HIV and poor socio-economic conditions. Due to overcrowding, infection control measures were compromised. This is a multi-drug resistant strain which means prognosis is poor,” said Maduka.
Maduka also said immediately after the cause has been identified, NICD suggested additional measures the hospital should take to address the cause.
“As with all other outbreaks, the hospital worked hard to contain the outbreak. They grouped the affected babies and dedicated staff to look after them, intensified infection control, including scrubbing down five cubicles, and made sure new admitted babies were kept in a separate area. The worse part is Klebsiella was found to be drug-resistant and hence needs to be treated with the appropriate antibiotics.
“Using these interventions, the outbreak was contained but because of the findings we thought something more than what the hospital has already done needed to be done,” concludes Maduka.
One of the parents who has lost her child due to the disease, who wanted to comment anonymously, said the hospital has treated them like dirt.
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“Personally, ever since I lost my baby, the hospital management has done absolutely nothing for me. No moral support or counselling was offered. The last time I heard from the hospital was when they broke the news about the death of my four-day-old baby. I would have appreciated emotional support even though it was not going to bring back my child. The worst part is the management shifts the blame to the innocent nurses and even threaten to fire them. There is absolutely nothing the nurses could have done to solve the mess,” said the mother.
Dr Jatin Ganda, the acting CEO, claimed the hospital has been very supportive of all the parents of the dead children.
“We have even organised ongoing counselling for them,” said Ganda.
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