Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu on Tuesday opened the antenatal unit at Leratong Hospital in the West Rand, following a R10m facelift. The upgrade commenced in 2011 funded by the SA Medical and Education Foundation (SAME) and was supported by corporate and individual sponsors. Adcock Ingram, Sibanye Gold and Aard mining equipment donated a total of R1.5m for the renovations. The "worst" units — blamed for infant deaths — were renovated first. Tyrone Pols, of the SAME foundation said: "Quite a while back you would always hear stories of babies dying, stillborn deaths that would occur because of not having enough monitoring and diagnostic equipment." He emphasised that the new equipment would save lives while also ensuring that doctors and nurses have what they need to be able to do their jobs properly. According to StatsSA there were 21,908 perinatal deaths in 2014, representing a 3.6% decline from the 22,274 deaths reported in 2013. Two thirds (65,8%) of perinatal deaths were sti...
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