Cape Town – The North West Health Department has launched an investigation after newborn babies were placed in boxes at Mahikeng Provincial Hospital.
The investigation comes after pictures circulated on social media showing babies in the neonatal section placed in boxes instead of incubators or cribs.
North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha said the hospital management indicated that their preliminary internal investigation has revealed that the incident happened on Saturday during the day and the management was not made aware of it.
“The department takes this matter in a serious light because there are systems, SOPs (standard operating procedures) and procedures in place which should have guided the hospital on a solution if there were any challenges of shortage of incubators at the time.
“There are also management meetings that are held every Monday morning which normally look into the weekend reports and yet this incident was never reported.”
Sambatha has directed that the matter should be speedily investigated.
“The department will institute further investigation to establish how much time was spent by these babies in these boxes.
“Under normal circumstances, when staff members come across situations that are dire over the weekend they should call the managers so that relevant alternatives could be organised,” Sambatha said.
He also said that arrangements are being made for additional cribs to be immediately sent to the hospital from a facility that has more, as a matter of urgency, and the CEO is following up on the procurement process that is under way in the hospital for additional incubators and cribs.
“The department unreservedly apologises for this incident and calls for calm while the matter is being investigated,” Sambatha added.
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