Baby deaths: Health department to blame

The Bhisho Legislature’s Health Committee has found there was “an inexorable causal link between elements of water supply contamination, poor sanitation and hygiene levels, and the diarrhoeal (sic) infections” that resulted in the deaths of 131 babies in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality between January and April 2008.

The multiparty committee visited the area on May 28.

The committee also found that the notice to the community to boil water as a result of the “compromised water purification processes”, was only issued to the public in April 2008 “despite recorded high numbers of diarrhoea-related baby deaths in the preceding months”.

In addition, the report states there was a failure by the provincial Department of Health’s monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that monthly meetings of the District Health Advisory Council took place and that “the relevant challenges and measures to deal with them were identified and discussed.

“This would have ensured that the diarrhoea outbreak would have been detected and measures put in place to curb it. The meeting held on 15 April 2008 should not have been the first meeting to consider the outbreak and the resultant deaths of babies in preceding months.”

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow