Health crisis: Minister demands accountability after Ombudsman exposes hospital negligence

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has called for accountability following the health ombuds' findings of serious procedural breaches at a Gauteng hospital and a case of negligence that led to the death of a patient in Limpopo.

The damning report, prompted by complaints from the families of two patients who died at the Gauteng and Limpopo hospitals, revealed disturbing findings and highlighted serious breaches in clinical and ethical standards.

The two deceased patients were Pitsi Ramphele, who died at the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital in Limpopo last year and Dr. Edward Mabubula, aged 64, who died at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in 2021.

BREACHES IN LIMPOPO AND GAUTENG

At the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg, the Health Ombud found that a long-standing courtesy practice, performed after hours and outside standard protocols, violated both national health regulations and the facility’s own operating procedures.

"Donald Gordon had a long standing informal courtesy practice of removing venous ports needles after chemo therapy, that were carried out outside regular hours where no patient files were created or retrieved to document the clinical status and the procedure carried out on patients on the day. This practice deviated from the regulations on patient records and from the facility's own standard operating procedures. The lack of documentation constituted a breach under the national health act which requires the maintenance of proper health records for all users of the health services," health ombud Prof Taole Mokoena said.

The Health Ombud recommended that Wits Donald Gordon implement formalised protocols to ensure proper record-keeping and full documentation of port needle removal procedures.

At the Pietersburg Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Limpopo, investigations found a serious breach of patient rights and professional duty of care in the case of Pitsi Ramphele.

"After assessment by the nurses, the patient was referred for the doctor examination but all doctors had left before he could be seen. Security guards instructed the patient to go home. Therefore the finding is that the allegation that Mr Ramphele was not seen by a doctor was substantiated. This is in clear violation of patient rights and professional duty of care," health ombud Prof Taole Mokoena said.

The Health Ombud called for stricter controls on staff attendance and for implicated doctors and nurses to be referred to their regulatory councils for possible disciplinary action.

"The recommendation is that there should be strict monitoring of doctors attendance and time keeping, including use of biometric system. We recommend the referral of implicated doctors and nurses to their respective regulatory councils for professional misconduct,"he said. - Written by Puleng Maake

EDITOR'S NOTE:

This article has been updated with quotes to reflect the health's ombuds' findings and recommendations.