Still no report on victim’s treatment

MBOMBELA – A month after allegations of poor treatment were levelled against Rob Ferreira Hospital when a young man died after a leopard attack, the Department of Health has made no progress in getting to the bottom of it.

Last month Lowvelder reported how Mr Mageka Ntuli (30) died in hospital on October 8 after being attacked by a leopard in the Onderberg. Pleas to nurses by his adopted father, Mr Danie van Graan, to help his son allegedly went unheeded and he was left to administer CPR to Ntuli himself.

Mr Dumisani Malamule, spokesman for the health department said at the time that they were looking into the matter and a full account of what treatment the patient had received would be submitted along with the post-mortem report. Last week he said the department was still waiting for a formal written report from the hospital.

Van Graan said after the attack Ntuli arrived at Rob by ambulance from Kaapmuiden Clinic, where he was first treated, at around 13:00. He had been bitten on the head and shoulders. He was under the impression his son was doing okay and went looking for the leopard which he managed to kill. He went to the hospital the next morning where he arrived between 09:00 and 10:00. Here Van Graan found that his son was lying in an emergency ward without a drip.

“He was delirious. I asked the nurse what was going on. He hadn’t been helped. We got into a screaming match. Then Mageka started convulsing. I held him as he breathed his last breath. I started screaming and pushing his bed back to casualty while giving him mouth-to-mouth.”

Van Graan said it was only then that the medical staff started paying attention and stabilised his son. “One doctor remarked to me, ‘Well done, you have saved your son’s life by blowing in his mouth’.” But he said some staff members in casualty were perplexed about where they had come from. “I had to tell them that we had come from somewhere else in their own hospital. And I had to do CPR on my son in their hospital while I kept telling them there was a huge problem.”

Van Graan said the nurse in question later said she was unhelpful because he had hurt her feelings by yelling. He estimated that Ntuli was admitted to the intensive care unit at about 15:00 on the Tuesday, more than 24 hours after arriving at the hospital. He never regained consciousness and died the next morning.

Van Graan said he was angry with himself for going after the leopard. “I should have gone to the hospital and kicked their butts instead.”