A top doctor who supported axed deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge's view that conditions in a local hospital were a national emergency, faces a possible disciplinary hearing.

Dr Nokuzola Ntshona, Medical Superintendent of the East London Hospital Complex (Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals) wrote to the presidency, requesting a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.

She claims that Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang failed to acknowledge some of the problems at the Frere Hospital.

Yesterday Ntshona was invited to make a submission to the National Assembly's health committee about her concerns,

However, she failed to make any input during a meeting between the committee and the complex's management - held at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, in Mdantsane, outside East London.

The committee visited the two hospitals following media reports of chronic staff and equipment shortages at Frere and the deaths of hundreds of babies in the hospital.

Luvuyo Mosana, chief executive officer for the complex, told the committee that steps would be taken against Ntshona: "We will look at the merits and demerits of the case," he said.

Ntshona had breached the department's protocol and he was very unhappy about that.

Ntshona's letter - addressed to Director General in the Presidency Frank Chikane - was leaked to the Daily Dispatch, which initially published the stories suggesting that staff and equipment shortages at the hospital had led to hundreds of baby deaths every year.

Soon afterwards, Madlala-Routledge made an unannounced visit to the hospital and spoke of a "national emergency".

Mbeki and health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang came to the defence of the hospital and provincial MEC Nomsa Jajula.

They said that although there were staff and some equipment shortages, the hospital was functioning normally.

Independent Newspapers is in possession of a letter from Ntshona to Mosana explaining her reasons for writing to Mbeki.

She said that her letter to Mbeki had been written in her capacity as a South African "citizen" and apologised for using a departmental letter-head.

She maintained Madlala-Routledge's description of conditions at Frere was indeed an "emergency" and "correctly described the situation here as a national crisis/emergency".

"The reasons for these deaths is our poor, or non existent infection control," she wrote.

Madlala-Routledge was fired yesterday when she refused to resign. Government officials took some to locate her to serve her with the dismissal letter.

Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga confirmed that the presidency had received Ntshona's letter.

He said the president would not be meeting her.

Meanwhile, James Ngculu chairman of the National Assembly's health committee had indicated earlier that they wanted Ntshona to brief them on the matters she had raised.

Instead, Ntshona had wanted a private audience with Ngculu, who turned down the request pointing out that he was there as part of a committee and not as an individual.

Nurses and doctors at the Frere and Cecilia Makiwane have mostly complained of staff shortages. Some equipment was still lacking and some had been sent for repairs last year had not yet been returned.