The IFP calls for heads to roll, following the death of a patient shortly after he was discharged from Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in Durban.
According to information supplied to the IFP by family members of Mr Nhlakanipho Manqele (51), he was admitted to Prince Mshiyeni Hospital on 16 July 2021, suffering from throat cancer, and then ended up with a boil in his neck. According to a video recording supplied to the IFP, before Mr Manqele passed away in his home, he is shown in a hospital bed, with bandages full of blood on his neck, seeping from the boil. There are no nurses or doctors attending to him.
His sister informed the IFP that her brother was discharged from hospital sick, dirty, fully of blood, and with an unpleasant smell. When they got home and she changed the bandages, she was shocked to find maggots had developed in the wound in his neck.
Sadly, Mr Manqele passed away at home and was buried over the weekend.
As the IFP, we demand justice for Mr Manqele and his family. This is nothing but gross negligence from Prince Mshiyeni Hospital, which has failed many poor and vulnerable people, and subjected them to inhumane and degrading healthcare. How did maggots develop in the patient’s wound if the patient was under doctors’ care? This indicates gross negligence by medical staff.
We implore the KZN MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, to institute an urgent investigation into Mr Manqele’s death. All those involved must be held accountable. Negligence by medical staff in healthcare facilities is unacceptable and must come to an end.
It is clear that the MEC of Health does not have a proper plan to turn things around in healthcare facilities in this province. It is time for government to stop playing hide-and-seek with problems in our hospitals and to embark on an extensive transformation drive to address all the ongoing issues, which have led to many hospitals becoming death traps.
Contacts for the late Mr Nhlakanipho Manqele’s family are available upon request, as well as the abovementioned video recording, a discharge letter from Prince Mshiyeni Hospital and a death certificate.
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Contact:
Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana, MPL
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson for Health
078 302 3991