PHOLA TRUST – Family members of the 32-year-old woman who died after spending 11 hours unattended in casualty at Themba Hospital last month said they wanted answers and demanded justice.
Mpumalanga News learnt that they had taken the matter further and were engaging with their legal representatives as they were planning to sue the health department for negligence.
Speaking to this reporter, the father of the deceased, Mr Moses Nkosi, indicated that even though his child had been laid to rest a few weeks ago he was still not at peace.
“I’m saying it again – if the ambulance had arrived in time my child would have survived, this is negligence. We didn’t receive serious attention at Phola Nsikazi Clinic from the start and when we were sent to the hospital it was a nightmare.
“My child spent hours in pain unattended. This is a human rights violation. I can’t fold my hands just like that because I don’t wish any one else to experience the trauma I had to go through. Something is fishy here, I am not happy with the post-mortem.
My child was brutally beaten by her husband and they now say she died of epilepsy? I think they have bribed people to cover their tracks,” said Nkosi.
He said he still had many questions about the death of his child such as to why the hospital hadn’t used a regular ambulance instead of them spending 11 hours waiting for an ICU ambulance.
Spokesperson for health Mr Ronnie Masilela was previously quoted by Mpumalanga News regarding this incident. “We are currently verifying the time at which the ambulance was called and when it arrived.”
Nkosi said a legal representative told them that they had to exhume the body of the deceased but the Hazyview police did not want to comply to the family’s request.
“We don’t understand why they are delaying the process. How can justice be done in our country if the police do not take their job seriously?” he asked.
This publication also tried to contact Masilela to check on the progress of the department’s investigation into the matter but the efforts proved fruitless as he was apparently engaged in a meeting at the time of going to press.
