A donation to help young burn victims - perfect for Human Rights Day

Metropolitan Health donation to help reduce burn-related mortality amongst children

Happy Human Rights Day! South Africa has a Bill of Rights that we can be proud off. The implementation of those rights are not what we have hoped for, but it makes me so happy when I hear about initiatives which took care of the rights of our children. Giving them the best medical care there is. The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) Paediatric Burns Unit looks after young burn victims. Metropolitan Health has donated a cheque of R400 000 this week to help with sepsis related mortality, made possible by Surgeons for Little Lives.

Dr Chris Westgarth-Taylor, Ms Elsa Taylor and Dr Solly Motuba

Dr Solly Motuba, Chief Commercial Officer for Metropolitan Health, says in 2018, the Burns Unit at the hospital admitted 588 patients, up from 459 in 2017, an increase of just over 28%.
“While the number of patients increased significantly, the capacity of the unit remained
unchanged with 19 beds in three wards and seven isolation beds in the paediatric burns
intensive care unit (PBICU).
“Mortality amongst burn victims is caused largely by hospital acquired infection. The
responsible organisms are often resistant to common antibiotics, making it even more
difficult to combat the problem,” he adds.
Factors that lead to the infections include the flow of patients and staff within the unit, a lack of isolation cubicles for infected patients, and the lack of a decontamination cubicle at the entrance and exit to the ICU. 

The donation by Metropolitan Health has been earmarked by Surgeons for Little Lives, a
non-profit company started by the Department of Paediatric Surgery at WITS University, to re-engineer the flow within the Paediatric Burns Unit at the hospital and add as many
isolation cubicles as possible.

Dr Ronelle Parkhurst, Ms Elsa Taylor – CFO, Dr Solly Motuba – Head of Business Development and staff from hospital

We love that this initiative gives children who suffer burn-related trauma access to enhanced medical care and a better chance of survival. Perfect for the basic human rights of little ones!

I am sharing this as a good news story, so pleased that there are medical facilities, projects and companies who are looking after our children. Thank you!