Untimely death: hospital blamed

LIMPOPO – WHEN Agnes Moyahabo Lefophane stormed out of the hospital screaming and crying uncontrollably, everyone thought she had been seriously injured, but this was not the case: Lefophane had just been told that her daughter, Lungi (29), was dead.

Now, the 63-year-old woman blames the Van Velden Hospital in Tzaneen for her daughter’s death. The accusations come after Lefophane claims to have found ‘poisonous pills’ next to her daughter’s body. “I found the tablets at her side. I immediately took them to a senior nurse who later claimed the matter was been handled by her seniors,” Lefophane said. Still later, she said, they told her they took the tablets to the laboratory to determine what they were. “The following week I went to the hospital to demand the tablets and I have since taken them to the family doctor who said they were poisonous,” she claimed.

Lefophane said her daughter had been admitted to hospital for a TB-related illness. But days before her death, her daughter had an argument with one of the nurses over unfair treatment. She said Lungi had told one of the nurses off after the nurse refused to help her get to the bathroom. Lefophane said the nurses reportedly refused to help her daughter, and said she was a nuisance and behaving like a spoilt child. The argument ended up souring relations between them, Lefophane said. The day following the alleged argument, Lefophane reported the matter to the hospital chief, she said. The following day, her daughter was dead. “My daughter was a kind person and she wouldn’t even hurt a fly. But today she is gone and no one wants to explain what killed my daughter,” Lefophane said.

Attempts to solicit comment from the hospital board yielded nothing, but health spokesperson, Macks Lusufi, said the department would launch an investigation into Lefophane’s allegations. “We take the matter in a serious light and we will leave no stone unturned. I would advise the mother to open a case with the police so that the matter can be investigated.

“But at the same time she must help us with the investigation and provide us with proof of her allegations,” Lesufi said.