Seven babies died in the neonatal unit of Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein within eight days.
Mondli Mvambi, the spokesperson for the Free State Department of Health, confirmed the death of these newborn babies between December 2 and 10.
Mvambi says the sudden rise in mortality in the neonatal unit is been investigated.
“We found the department had taken neonatal babies with an average weight of 600 g on average last month.”
The lower the weight at birth, the higher the risk of illness and death, he says.
“We find that our community is less and less concerned about the rules and procedures regarding antenatal care.”
He says generalization is dangerous.
“However, there is an increasing number of young mothers in the province giving birth to stillborn babies and most of these cases come to Pelonomi.”
We find that our community is less and less aware of the rules and procedures regarding antenatal care.
Those statistics make Pelonomi look bad,
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