MBOMBELA – The Acting Sheriff of the local High Court cannot serve the MEC for Health, Mr Gillion Mashego, with a court order as he is being denied access to the Government Complex by police officials because it is a national key point.
In the meantime, Mr Dingaan Mngomezulu, who the High Court in Gauteng had ordered at the beginning of October should immediately receive the required treatment to have his broken leg fixed, is still lying helplessly in hospital.
Lowvelder reported on Mngomezulu of Hazyview who had suffered a fracture to his right upper leg in April. He was taken to Matikwane Hospital where he was put in traction. After lying there for three months without any sign of improvement, a family friend took him to orthopaedic surgeon Dr Corné Ackermann. She found that his leg had shortened by five centimetres and that surgery would be his only saving grace.
Also read: Department of Health unperturbed by court order
He can only receive the surgery in Themba or Rob Ferreira hospitals. He turned to the latter for help where he was turned away on numerous occasions because of a lack of orthopaedic material.
In the meantime, attorney Ms Lesley-Anne Breytenbach brought an application before the court which would order Mpumalanga’s Department of Health to help Mngomezulu.
Also read: Patient back to square one despite court order
When the court finally ruled in their favour and ordered the department to immediately render him with the necessary care, he was merely readmitted to Matikwane and later transferred to Themba.
On enquiring why he still wasn’t scheduled to undergo surgery, he was informed that he couldn’t be operated on because of an underlying medical condition. However, departmental spokesman Mr Dumisani Malamule on enquiry confirmed that there were 29 other patients in Themba waiting for surgery.
Also read: Man still waiting on operation weeks after court order
Also, not only did an independent physician rule that this condition was in no way contraindicative of the surgery, but the High Court also ruled as such on Friday after another application initiated by Breytenbach.
Mngomezulu was transferred to Steve Biko Hospital in Gauteng later that night. However, for reasons unknown to Breytenbach or Mngomezulu, he was transferred back to Mpumalanga on Tuesday and told along the way that he was to be taken to Rob Ferreira. He arrived there and spent the entire night in a wheelchair as there wasn’t a bed available. He was taken back to Themba the following day.
All of this transpired without Friday’s court order having been served on Mashego. The reason for this is because the Acting Sheriff is being denied access to the Government Complex.
“He was turned away again on Wednesday at 15:30 by Col Mashele who argued that the premises was a national key point and that employees couldn’t be disturbed by the presence of the Acting Sheriff,” Breytenbach said.
