A woman whose daughter became permanently blind due to medical negligence at Durban’s Addington Hospital has been awarded R11.6m in damages. The Witness reports judgment was granted in Virginia Zungu’s favour by the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg). She is the guardian of Anele Zungu, who was born in June 2006.
Judge Sidwell Mngadi said that in October 2017, a consent order was granted that the MEC for Health & Social Development is liable to pay 100% of the damages proved to have been suffered by Anele arising out of the blindness.
The judge said that Anele was permanently blind in both her eyes because of a condition called retinopathy of prematurity. This was caused by the failure to maintain her haemoglobin oxygen saturation levels satisfactorily, resulting in oxygen levels exceeding acceptable levels, he said.
It took place when she was admitted to Addington Hospital as a very low birth weight premature baby, added Mngadi.
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