Bay's public health in crisis

WITH the highest number of newborn baby deaths in hospitals nationally, the percentage of starving children doubling, an increase in pregnant women dying and a tuberculosis time bomb, Nelson Mandela Bay is facing a deepening crisis.

The latest national public health study, the District Health Barometer which was released last night, painted a picture of a highly ineffective public health system in the metro.

The Bay was singled out as being in crisis with the highest in-hospital newborn baby death rate in the country and particularly bad outcomes for TB treatment.

The statistics published in the review revealed that:

• 25.7 out of every 1000 babies born will die in hospital shortly after birth. This is the highest in the country.

Doctors, who did not want to be named, said that this number was, however, still low for Port Elizabeth's Dora Nginza Hospital which, two years ago, had a "neo-natal in-hospital death rate" of 165 per 1000 births.

This, however, improved significantly from 2012 onwards.

• 132.9 out of every 100000 mothers die while pregnant or shortly after delivering their babies.

• The number of children dying of acute malnutrition almost doubled from 5.1% of those admitted to 9.8%.

.... Estelle Ellis

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