Central SA
Progress made in hospital where babies were placed in boxes─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 15:09 Tue, 30 May 2023
The North West Department of Health says significant progress has been made since it was reported that babies were placed in boxes at the Mahikeng Provincial Hospital.
Two staff members were placed on provisional suspension after babies were placed in cardboard boxes due to a shortage of cots and incubators. This led to the nursing union, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), stepping in for the nursing staff and saying that they had no other choice due to the lack of resources.
The MEC, Madoda Sambatha, visited the hospital late on Monday to engage with nurses' unions, including the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, to seek solutions and pave the way for the implementation of key interventions that will improve operations at the hospital.
Following the meeting with members of the unions, North West Health spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, said Sambatha expressed his satisfaction with the progress made in finding lasting solutions to the challenges at the Mafikeng Provincial Hospital.
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“The meeting acknowledged challenges that contributed to the situation as systemic and structural. For example, the issue of limited space in the hospital which the MEC has already highlighted in the Budget Speech – even stating that the hospital will be expanded with an additional 100 beds – was acknowledged as a contributing factor and suggestions on other solutions were provided,” he added.
Lekgethwane disclosed that the hospital had already advanced with the procurement of additional cribs and baby incubators, and it was also acknowledged as a sign that the hospital had anticipated the need to address the challenge of space for newborn babies. He says that during the meeting the need to find lasting solutions was emphasised and finger-pointing at individuals was discouraged. Lekgethwane said union leaders and the MEC agreed that the suspension of the employees directly involved was not meant as a punitive measure but a precautionary suspension. This is to avoid interference in investigations.
He said challenges affecting the hospital, which even contributed to the incident, require the management's collective accountability and no individual can be entirely blamed since the challenges are systemic and structural.
