Over 600 patients harmed at Leratong
"The shockingly high number of harmful events to patients highlights the crisis in public health."
More than 20 000 patients have been harmed by negligence in Gauteng state hospitals, 651 of those at Leratong Hospital, in the last two-and-a-half years.
This was revealed by the Gauteng Health MEC, Gwen Ramokgopa, in a written reply to questions about Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) posed by Jack Bloom, the DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, in the Gauteng Legislature.
An SAE is defined as an event that results in unintended harm to the patient by an act of commission or omission, rather than by the underlying disease or condition of the patient.
According to Ramokgopa, the SAEs included “allegations of negligence, incompetence of staff members, human errors, patients absconding and system failure”.
The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the most dangerous hospital for patients in Gauteng, with 4 320 recorded SAEs during this period.
Ramokgopa said that action taken after SAEs includes discipline, referral to the police, and referrals to the Health Professions Council and the SA Nursing Council, as well as various preventative measures taken to minimise SAEs.
“The shockingly high number of harmful events to patients highlights the crisis in public health that is driving up medical negligence cases which lead to huge court-ordered payouts. The Democratic Alliance calls for effective measures to minimise medical mistakes that are mostly caused by poor management and lack of consequences for negligence,” Bloom said.
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