Earlier this month, over the span of three days, three critical burn patients were reportedly refused prompt and proper medical treatment at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.

In the first instance, Sowetan couple Maggie Molefe and Godfrey Tenehi were critically injured after a fire broke out in their shack in White City. On arrival at Baragwanath hospital, doctors and nurses allegedly refused for several hours to treat them, saying they were too full and the night staff was overworked. After enraged emergency workers refused to leave the hospital until the critical patients received treatment, they were eventually admitted. Molefe is still fighting for her life in ICU, but the 36-year-old Tenehi died less than 24 hours after sustaining his injuries.

In a second incident, 50-year-old Lorraigne Teixeira was also critically injured after being trapped in a burning blaze in her Turffontein house. She was taken to the South Rand Hospital, but lacking the medical expertise, doctors requested a transfer to Baragwanath hospital’s renowned burns unit. The hospital initially agreed, then phoned back a few hours later to say there was no space but that they were busy resolving the matter. However, after almost 12 hours of administrative bungling on the part of Baragwanath, its CEO Johanna More eventually informed the family that they could not take Teixeira in. Medical staff believes precious time was wasted and that Teixeira could have been sent to another medical facility if this bungling did not take place. Teixeira has subsequently died from her injuries.

Two grieving families are now demanding answers from Chris Hani Baragwanath’s management about why their loved ones were initially turned away or refused admission altogether.

The Baragwanath hospital is the biggest in the southern hemisphere and has the top burns unit in the country. Understandably, this is where most emergency services and trauma workers in Gauteng turn to with critical burn victims. In fact, the hospital serves about six million people from the province and beyond. However, Baragwanath has been making news headlines for years now – and for all the wrong reasons: understaffed ICU and trauma units, chronic shortages of medical supplies and equipment, late payments of doctors and medical suppliers and continued complaints against the hospital’s management.

What is it going to take to turn this hospital around? Does it boil down to ineffective and incompetent leadership?

The next episode of Special Assignment will be broadcast on Thursday, 26 July at 21:00 on SABC3.