Health
(a) What was the annual unnatural mortality rate in the province for (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011, (iv) 2012, (v) 2013, (vi) 2014, (vii) 2015, (viii) 2016 and (ix) 2017 to date, (b) what were the causes of death in each year, (c) what was the budget for forensic pathology services in each year, (d) how many forensic pathologists were employed in each year and (e) what shortage of forensic pathologists was there in each year?
- What was the annual unnatural mortality rate in the province for (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011, (iv) 2012, (v) 2013, (vi) 2014, (vii) 2015, (viii) 2016 and (ix) 2017
Response is for cases admitted to the Western Cape Forensic Pathology Service; per financial year expressed as mortality rate per 100 population.
|
Financial Year |
Mortality rate |
|
2008/2009 |
1.77 |
|
2009/2010 |
1.68 |
|
2010/2011 |
1.65 |
|
2011/2012 |
1.62 |
|
2012/2013 |
1.68 |
|
2013/2014 |
1.68 |
|
2014/2015 |
1.69 |
|
2015/2016 |
1.74 |
|
2016/2017 |
1.73 |
|
2017/2018 |
|
|
Projected |
1.82 |
- what were the causes of death in each year,
Causes of death are generally expressed as natural, unnatural or undetermined. The cases admitted to the FPS during the financial years 2008/2009 to current is as a result of the alleged circumstances as detailed below:
|
Financial Year |
Accident |
Homicide - Firearm |
Homicide - Other |
Homicide - Sharp |
Natural |
Road Traffic Incident |
Suicide |
Under Investigation |
|
2008/2009 |
992 |
559 |
457 |
1475 |
2552 |
1643 |
598 |
1391 |
|
2009/2010 |
898 |
498 |
485 |
1387 |
2800 |
1476 |
633 |
1203 |
|
2010/2011 |
912 |
580 |
476 |
1283 |
2910 |
1442 |
572 |
1245 |
|
2011/2012 |
948 |
625 |
468 |
1243 |
2899 |
1311 |
651 |
1230 |
|
2012/2013 |
979 |
852 |
465 |
1304 |
3150 |
1252 |
683 |
1256 |
|
2013/2014 |
952 |
1093 |
546 |
1353 |
3015 |
1268 |
640 |
1218 |
|
2014/2015 |
931 |
1289 |
598 |
1429 |
3063 |
1268 |
642 |
1168 |
|
2015/2016 |
973 |
1323 |
542 |
1510 |
3270 |
1406 |
655 |
1246 |
|
2016/2017 |
1035 |
1268 |
522 |
1652 |
3135 |
1362 |
653 |
1319 |
|
2017/2018* |
684 |
1055 |
389 |
930 |
2086 |
841 |
376 |
830 |
- as @ end October
(c) what was the budget for forensic pathology services in each year, Refer attached.
(d) how many forensic pathologists were employed in each year
|
FIN YEAR |
NUMBER OF POSTS |
VACANT |
FILLED |
IN PRINCIPLE (NOT FUNDED) |
|
2008/09 |
14 |
2 |
11 |
1 |
|
2009/10 |
16 |
0 |
10 |
6 |
|
2010/11 |
16 |
2 |
11 |
3 |
|
2011/12 |
16 |
0 |
14 |
2 |
|
2012/13 |
17 |
1 |
14 |
2 |
|
2013/14 |
19 |
1 |
18 |
0 |
|
2014/15 |
20 |
1 |
19 |
0 |
|
2015/16 |
20 |
1 |
19 |
0 |
|
2016/17 |
20 |
1 |
19 |
0 |
|
2017/18 |
20 |
1 |
19 |
0 |
These posts exclude the medical officer and registrar posts. In 2012/13 the Department increased the number of funded and filled specialist’s posts and reduced funded Registrar posts due to the number of specialists required and the number of registrars qualifying. The funded registrar posts were decreased to offset the expansion of the specialist posts.
These numbers include the Heads of Clinical Departments and Heads of Clinical Units.
(e) what shortage of forensic pathologists was there in each year?
Internationally the National Association of Medical Examiner’s norm of 250 cases per Pathologist is used as a norm. It is however recognised that it is not achievable in the South African context and the Western Cape therefore in its Healthcare 2030 document aspires to 350 cases per Full time equivalent Pathologist. As per the last Quarter’s performance - the number of cases per full time equivalent pathologist is projected at 857 for the year.
