Serious allegations of negligence in KZN hospitals: Ombudsman reports

KZN remains the province with the most complaints reported to the Health Ombudsman, with the office currently investigating several serious allegations of negligence amongst hospital staff.

Over the past nine months, the Ombuds Office - tasked with investigating complaints over health services, received 258 new complaints with 41 still under investigation.

However, it is also investigating 16 high and extreme-risk complaints from previous years. These include allegations of negligence and substandard patient care, complications during labour and delivery in pregnant women, postoperative complications such as sepsis and death, and maternal and neonatal deaths.

The investigations by the Ombuds Office further underpin continued costs related to medico negligence claims, which have impacted the health budget in the province. KwaZulu-Natal, in its last financial year, reported a whopping R29 billion in medical negligence claims, the highest in the country.

And, while the Democratic Alliance has been vocal in its criticism previously, as a partner in the Government of National Unity it now treads carefully in its criticism, opting for a general swipe at officials rather than the ANC Health MEC - which has come under constant fire in previous years from opposition parties.

"Most of KZN’s health-related complaints come from eThekwini, with the metro-run healthcare facilities atrocious despite receiving funding from the province. As a result, patients do not want to use them, which is understandable given that it can take two days to get through a queue at Wentworth Hospital or Mahatma Gandhi, for example. A turnaround plan must be developed by the Department of Health through a planned and funded process to take these facilities over in the next two financial years. The need to direct this funding to patient care, medicines, and quality goods and services is now more urgent than ever.

Fixing some of KZN’s problems will require Health and other departments to root out possible ghost workers, and re-prioritise deployments. This will allow Treasury to properly allocate funds recovered and, as they trickle in, to rectify and replenish the coffers. The panacea in doubling up on accountability at all levels is a bitter pill for some to swallow, but the time is now. Otherwise, there will be nothing left to save," - a stark warning from the DA's Health spokesperson in KZN, Dr Imraan Keeka.

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