SAHRC to investigate North West hospital's babies in boxes debacle

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has opened an investigation into the Mahikeng Provincial Hospital resources blunder which led to newborn babies being placed in cardboard boxes shortly after birth on May 20.

Nurses used boxes instead of incubators or cribs to keep the newborns warm after birth. Pictures of babies in boxes circulated on social media and shocked many.

SAHRC North West manager Shirley Mlombo told TimesLIVE the commission would investigate what caused the incident.

Denosa North West deputy chairperson Mzwakhe Seleke told TimesLIVE the union raised resources constraints at Mahikeng Provincial Hospital with management six months before nurses ran out of equipment in the neonatal unit.

“The babies issue is the tip of the iceberg. There are serious issues in the hospital, including electricity. On Monday we had about four wards dark, without electricity.

“There are deep issues of failures of management and [they] are evident, nobody can hide them,” he said.

He said the nurses on duty at the time had delivered 56 babies and had no choice but to use boxes to avoid newborns sleeping on the floor.

“The capacity of beds in that ward is 25, the nurses delivered 56 babies and tried to borrow from other facilities but only managed to get 43. They could not do anything else and could not let the newborns sleep on the floor. They had to make a plan,” Seleke said.

Seleke said no nurses have been suspended over the incident. 

North West health department spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane told TimesLIVE there were no health complications with the babies placed in boxes, adding they were all in good health.

Lekgethwane said health MEC Madoda Sambatha was not aware of the resources constraints despite Denosa saying this was raised with management months ago.

“It is only at the meeting with the unions on Monday that the unions stated the shortage of equipment at the neonatal unit was long raised with management. That meeting resolved to wait for the preliminary report of the investigation which the MEC will share today [Wednesday],” she said.  

Lekgethwane said hospital management told the department they were not informed by the nurses of the decision to use cardboard boxes and claimed they could have intervened.  

On Tuesday Sambatha conceded there were space challenges in the hospital. 

“The hospital will be expanded with an additional 100 beds. As part of increasing space in the facility, management started engaging the provincial infrastructure [department] to procure a park home which will provide space for [the] neonatal unit,” the MEC said.

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