Young life lost

THE negligence of staff at Ngwelezana Hospital led to the death of a 21 year-old Richards Bay man on Monday.

That’s the angry accusation from the family of Sheldon Sathianathan (21) who died in hospital after becoming ill a few days earlier, complaining of chest pains.

His general practitioner referred him to Ngwelezana Hospital on Thursday, where his aunt Sally Pillay says the youngster underwent x-rays and blood tests.

The results were all negative and he was sent home.

During the night his condition deteriorated and he began coughing blood.

They returned to hospital on Friday morning where the doctor told them there was nothing wrong and they should leave.

‘His condition continued to worsen and we were back at hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning.

‘By Sunday morning we visited the Nseleni Community Clinic and were referred back to Ngwelezana Hospital where the doctor who had been attending to us on the previous days told us she was ‘tired of us and there was nothing wrong with the patient and we must leave,’ said Pillay.

‘For those four consecutive days we waited for hours to be attended to by the doctor, only to be told to leave because nothing was wrong with him.

‘We were desperate and eventually sought a second opinion from a surgeon at a private hospital in Richards Bay.

‘Tests were conducted and revealed he had a liver infection.

‘The doctor had given us a letter stating he was a red code patient and should be attended to immediately, but when we got Ngwelezana that night the waiting game continued, and he was only taken into a ward much later.

‘During this time he did not receive any medication or treatment. He was treated as a normal patient despite having the ‘red code’ letter and our efforts to explain the urgency were not even considered,’ she said.

Meanwhile the youngster, who had a run-in with the law in 2011, was ‘back on the right track’ and his family were disappointed that his dreams and aspirations were cut short in what they allege was medical negligence.

According to his uncle Vis Pillay, Sathianathan had been working at a trucking company for four months and he had plans to further his tertiary studies.

‘He was a breadwinner and leaves behind his mother, brother, sister and a niece.

‘He had such a bright future and was involved in the youth ministry and wanted to contribute to society in a positive way.

‘It is sad that patients are treated in such a poor manner at a public hospital.

‘They talk about ‘Batho Pele – Putting people first’ but have no urgency to help.

‘We do not want another life to be lost because of negligence and poor service,’ he said.

Nqwelezana Hospital spokesperson, Tobias Gumede confirmed that the complaint is currently under investigation.

‘We will be in a position to comment when the matter has been finalised,’ he said.