Gauteng health lambasted
2012-10-07 16:02
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Johannesburg - The Gauteng health department hasn't won any medical negligence claims in two years, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.
In the past year alone, it's paid out R44m, said DA spokesperson Jack Bloom.
In one of the recent cases, Nicholaas van Niekerk, who suffered brain damage at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in 2005, was awarded R5m plus costs by the South Gauteng Court in Johannesburg last week.
Bloom said Van Niekerk's compensation was to cover loss of earnings, future medical expenses and general damages for pain and suffering, impairment, loss of the amenities of life.
However, Gauteng health department spokesperson Simon Zwane could not confirm this.
"I don't know about it," he said.
Bloom said R11.6m was also awarded to Ntokozo Skhosana, 8, who suffered brain damage at the Far East Rand Hospital in 2004.
"Hospital care must improve radically, otherwise negligence pay-outs will hit the health budget hard," said Bloom.
- SAPA
