Woman in viral Wentworth Hospital video dies

The Wentworth Hospital patient whose video has gone viral on social media has died. In the footage, the woman, identified as Rowena Hawkey, 69, complains about not being able to breathe and pleads for help.

The camera pans to reveal an even more dire situation of at least two other patients sleeping on the floor. Throughout the entire 90 second video, no health official can be seen as Hawkey’s heart-wrenching screams continue in the background.

“I can’t breathe,” she wails as her voice breaks. “Please, please can you give me my pump? Please get me out of here… I’m going to die like this.”

According to media reports, Hawkey died just moments after the video was recorded on Wednesday, 6 January, however, her family was not notified as phone lines have been down.

The issue of broken telephone lines at the hospital was brought into the spotlight by community activist, Tracey Williams, who spoke out after a woman suffered the same fate with her husband.

“A woman had gone into the hospital to find her husband deceased. He was laying in the morgue and she was not called. All we’ve been hearing is that the telephone lines are down. We don’t need to know about the lines being down, we need help for our people,” said Williams.

Addressing the issue recently, the provincial health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, said matters need to be reported immediately so they can address them with the urgency needed.

“At the time, we actually thought that the video was something happening on the spot. That is why we then dispatched management immediately. However, we then subsequently discovered that it was a video that was recorded on December 22. In the future, where patients have challenges, we’re making a call that they complain to us immediately so that we’re able to address matters that are there on the spot,” she said.

Although the MEC gave conflicting dates of the recording, she said they had since established that the patients who were filmed were awaiting their Covid-19 results.

Their investigations also revealed that 11 doctors were away in isolation on the day, after testing positive and that a further 17 nursing staff were off, due to Covid-19. Six nurses were in charge of the Accidents and Emergency Unit, as well as a 28 – bedded short stay ward with very sick patients.

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