lodge complaint button
commissioners button
programmes button
provinces button
publications button
calendar button
fraud hotline button

Overcrowding Not a New Problem At Thelle Mogoerane Hospital - Staff Tells SAHRC During Site Inspection

20 September 2018

Troubles of overcrowding at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital, especially in the neonatal ward, have been an ongoing concern for staff at the hospital, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has heard.
Staff members were speaking to SAHRC officials during a site inspection at the hospital in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, on Wednesday.

This after six newborn babies died following a Klebsiella pneumonia outbreak at the hospital.
"As organised labour, we have always been crying about overcrowding at the hospital but our cries have always fallen on deaf ears," union representative Lebohang Nkoana told the commission during the inspection.
Nkoana said overcrowding in wards was a dire concern and it exposed staff and patients to diseases.
He gave an example of a ward that had no air conditioning but housed patients most of whom have tuberculosis, which then exposed staff members to the disease. He said a nurse was recently treated for TB as a result.
Outsourcing nurses
Nkoana added that at some point, because of overcrowding in some wards, a nurse was strangled by a psychiatric patient because they were not in the area they were meant to be in.
"We have a psych unit here but it's overcrowded and then patients are taken to wards where they don't belong. When you take a psych patient to another ward without supervision it's a danger to them and other staff and patients," he said.
Nkoana said because of overcrowding and lack of permanent staff, the hospital was outsourcing nurses from agencies to help.

Meanwhile, in the neonatal ward, which has 61 beds, six babies died due to Klebsiella infection, and staff workers working there raised the same issues with the commission.
"At the moment we have 52 babies at the ward. What makes the infection spread is poor hygiene. We are doing our best to improve hygiene in the hospital," the hospital's clinical manager Constance Ndobe told the SAHRC officials.
She added that while the overcrowding had been reported to hospital CEO Nomonde Mqhayi, not much could be done because of the shortage of hospitals in the province.
Hospital sometimes 'closes'
"Gauteng itself is overcrowded, and that's the challenge," Ndobe said.
When the flow of patients becomes unmanageable, the hospital usually closes.
"When we close it, we close it for people who come in by ambulances, but for people walking in, it is not closed, because we cannot control them," she said.
Ndobe said neonatal patients were usually transferred to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto and Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.

Regarding the recent outbreak in the ward, Ndobe said the hospital was receiving all the support it needed from the health department's provincial office.

Source: All Africa

About us

Understanding PAIA

The Human Rights Commission is the national institution established to support constitutional democracy. It is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour.

27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein

011 877 3600 (Switchboard)