IN NUMBERS | Baragwanath's casualty numbers reflect Gauteng as a 'war zone'
Image: Katherine Muick © Sunday Times.
The casualty department at Africa's biggest hospital treated enough people last year to fill FNB stadium to near capacity.
Shocking statistics tell a tale of how staff at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital dealt with violence and trauma as casualty staff treated a total of 84,846 patients in 2018. That's a staggering average of 7,000 per month.
DA MPL Jack Bloom likened the numbers to a “war zone” when he received the statistics from Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku in response to a question posed in the provincial legislature.
The breakdown of incidents is as follows:
- Trauma 25,674
- Surgery 14,232
- Orthopaedics 16,668
- Medical 28,284.
Of those, 22,238 were directly related to violence and road accidents:
- Gunshots 1,033
- Stabbing 3,276
- Road accidents 4,406
- Burns 1,605
- Assaults 4,238
- Other injuries 7,677
There were also 3,597 psychiatric cases, 1,298 cases of organophosphate poisoning, and 45 suicides by hanging.
Most categories registered a year-on-year increase except for assault cases, which offered a faint glimmer of respite by dropping by several hundred.