Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health says the Tembisa Hospital east of Johannesburg needs to be resourced in line with its status as a tertiary institution.
Committee members visited the hospital on Sunday as part of their oversight role.
This follows a report released by Health Ombuds Professor Malegapuru Makgoba relating to the death of Shonisani Lethole at the hospital.
Health Ombuds makes public his findings:
The report found that Lethole’s death was due to gross medical negligence.
He also went without food for 100 hours.
Committee Chairperson Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo says they will meet with the Gauteng Health MEC this week to discuss their concerns.
“Ekurhuleni is a big metro serving a large population and therefore, we support the decision taken to make that hospital a Tertiary hospital in 2012. However, the resources in terms of infrastructure, staffing, equipment did not follow the decision of a tertiary hospital and that is our starting point to resolve problems in that hospital. Issues of poor record-keeping can not be defended at any given stage. Clinical records have to be kept properly,” explains Dhlomo.
Meanwhile, in July 2020, two Johannesburg families demanded answers from Gauteng Health.
One family claimed their mother died after contracting COVID-19 at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital after being admitted for an unrelated health problem early in June.
The other family alleges negligence at the Tembisa Hospital:
