Health
[1](a) How many babies (i) were born and (ii) died at birth in Western Cape provincial hospitals in the (aa) 2014/15, (bb) 2015/16 and (cc) 2016/17 financial years, (b) what were the causes of these deaths and (c) how many of them included (i) prematurity, (ii) infection, (iii) asphyxia (lack of oxygen) and (iv) congenital abnormalities; and
[2] whether any negligence had been identified in any of the deaths in the (a) 2014/15, (b) 2015/16 and (c) 2016/17 financial years; if so, how many?
[1] The Department’s data collection tool, Sinjani, does not give causes of death and we therefore report on the data as collected in Perinatal Problem Identification Programme (PPIP). The PPIP collects data per calendar year and is for babies of 1000g+ and indicates the causes of perinatal death and possible/probable avoidable factors
|
PPIP data (per calendar year - 1000g+) |
|||
|
|
Live births |
Neonatal deaths |
Stillbirths |
|
2014 |
102 789 |
363 |
1098 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2015 |
101 631 |
398 |
1154 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2016 |
84 993 |
325 |
939 |
|
Cause of Death |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Infection |
53 |
59 |
38 |
|
Congenital abnormalities |
80 |
74 |
72 |
|
Immaturity relation |
99 |
95 |
74 |
|
Hypoxia |
97 |
121 |
98 |
[2]The Department can only refer to litigation statistics which indicate how many claims were settled arising from neonatal death in any reporting period. This amounts to no more than two each year, and is very unlikely to be a reliable guide to the extent of neonatal deaths occurring at our facilities. In addition, claims for early neonatal death may be settled on purely compassionate grounds and does not necessarily point to negligence on the part of medical staff.
