SOUTH African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) spokesman, Wisani Baloyi, told Daily Sun they have not received a complaint on the issue of babies dying due to a lack of Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) at health facilities.
He said SAHRC is empowered to institute an investigation in its own accord and they will investigate the allegations.
This after DA spokesman for Health in Gauteng, Jack Bloom, said Gauteng hospitals are short of 90 NICUs which could save the lives of premature and sickly babies.
Bloom said the worst affected healthcare facility is Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, which has 18 NICUs, but should have 17 more to meet international standards of care.
According to Bloom, this shortage is a major factor in the 909 baby deaths that could have been avoided in the past three years.
Gauteng Health spokesman, Motalatale Modiba, said they are striving to meet international standards with their NICUs across all service centres in the province.
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“According to international standards, a hospital requires four neonatal beds per 1 000 annual deliveries. However, the number of deliveries in the catchment areas of our hospitals determine the projected size of the neonatal unit,” he said.
Modiba said that even though some hospitals in the province could use additional NICU beds due to population growth, some hospitals continued to effectively provide intensive and high care to neonates as per the deliveries in the catchment areas.
“Overall, central, tertiary and regional hospitals have a total of 180 NICU and neonatal high care beds. There is a shortfall of 90 beds as per the international standards. However, our facilities can accommodate neonates in the available NICU and high care beds. Where there is a need for additional beds at a particular institution, cluster hospitals refer among each other,” he added.
He said the availability of beds is always monitored across facilities. In some facilities such Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, renovations are taking place to create more bed capacity, while some such as Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital plans to employ more staff are underway. In others such as Tembisa Hospital, there are plans subject to approval to build a mother and child unit that will bring in additional beds.
“An impression must not be created that the only factors that lead to neonatal mortality are bed capacity. Neonatal mortality still happens due to various medical factors,” said Modiba.
