The Gauteng health department has paid R276 million over the past two years for 110 legal claims, most of which were for medical negligence, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday.
"This is revealed in documents I obtained from the department after making an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act," DA Gauteng health spokesman Jack Bloom said in a statement.
"The highest pay-out was R16.5m in the case of Kutloano Ntsebeng Makgomarela, who was brain-damaged when she was born at the Tembisa Hospital."
The health department was not immediately available for comment.
Bloom said the sheriff of the court visited the department seven times in the 2013/14 financial year because of overdue payments, with R4.4m wasted on interest payments for overdue accounts.
"R155m was paid for 59 legal claims for the 2013/14 financial year and R121m in the previous year for 51 court cases," Bloom said.
"The upward trend in negligence cases is worrying, as is the department's poor handling of these cases as it has lost every single case in the past four years."
Bloom hoped the court cases would spur the department into action to root out bad medical practises injuring patients.
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