Boy dies in granny’s arms as nurses pray before attending emergency

A BOY, aged four years, died in his grandmother’s arms at the Malamulele Hospital last Tuesday while waiting for medical personnel to finish their morning prayers to attend to him.

The boy’s grandmother, Masho Shiviti from Nwadzekudzeku in Malamulele, said her grandson fell ill early Tuesday morning and she rushed him to the Malamulele Hospital.

She said she was shocked to be told by night shift nurses to wait for the morning shift personnel to come on duty.

When the morning shift personnel arrived, they allegedly told her to wait as they were first going to have a morning prayer session that would last for an hour. Shortly thereafter, the boy died.

“Are these batho pele principles? I’m so angry with the staff of Malamulele Hospital. My grandson is being buried on Thursday,” the grieving grandmother said.

DA Limpopo leader, Jacques Smalle, said he would request health and social development MEC, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, to urgently launch an internal investigation.

Smalle said this was not the first incident of its kind at the hospital. “It is totally unacceptable for the nurses to neglect the patients. The DA is of the view that this problem could have been happening for many years. It’s high time all government officials are held accountable for failing to adhere to batho pele principles,” he said.

Health and social development communications manager, Mack Lesufi, said the department had already deployed a team of investigators to the Malamulele Hospital to investigate the child’s death.

“Investigators will get a clinical report. It is wrong to blame the staff before the release of the clinical report,” Lesufi said.