Letaba Hospital ‘blackout deaths’ under investigation
Investigations are ongoing after two patients died at Letaba Hospital outside Tzaneen, in Limpopo, during a power outage when one of the faulty generators ran out of diesel.
The faulty generator at the hospital is a recurring problem, said Langa Bodlani of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Letaba Herald reported.
Bodlani further said it was the fifth time the generator did not have enough fuel to keep life support machines going last Wednesday night.
According to Bodlani, it is gross negligence that led to the death of these two patients.
He further stated the department of health must be held accountable and measures must be put in place so that generators must function at all times during power outages.
The DA laid charges of criminal negligence against the Limpopo department of health at Polokwane Police Station.
Last year, newborns had to be manually ventilated at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, west of Johannesburg, after Eskom announced the beginning of loadshedding.
“Six vulnerable babies had to be transferred to other hospitals and mothers awaiting caesarean operations were also transferred because generators failed to kick in,” said Gauteng DA spokesperson Jack Bloom.
Some of the transferred patients were taken to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, which was also reported to have been having power supply fluctuations. Others were transferred to the Natalspruit and Tambo Memorial hospitals on the East Rand after Coronationville’s hospital was plunged into darkness.
Read more: Load shedding leaves hospitals in the dark
– Caxton News Service
Read original story on letabaherald.co.za
