Parents suspect negligence caused child’s impairment
Almost a year after their little boy became sick and was admitted to the Lower Umfolozi War Memorial Hospital
LIFE for the KwaMsane parents of 20-month-old Lwandile Buthelezi will never be the same again.
Almost a year after their little boy became sick and was admitted to the Lower Umfolozi War Memorial Hospital (LUWMH), they still have questions about the child’s condition, but nobody can give them answers.
When Lwandile became ill with diarrhoea in January last year, his mother, A Buthelezi, took him to KwaMsane Clinic.
The child was then transferred to the LUWMH where he was admitted and a drip inserted.
‘On the second day he looked better because he smiled back at me and was able to follow hand movements, but by the third day his body began to swell,’ said the distraught mother.
She said the doctor in charge told her the baby was not breathing ‘and I left the ward in shock’.
After three hours she and the baby’s father, Abbas, went into the ward and were told their baby was awake, but had been rushed to Ngwelezana Hospital for a CT scan.
‘For four days my child lay there, his head becoming more and more swollen.
‘When they brought him back to the LUWMH, no one told us what they found to be wrong with him.
‘After seven days another doctor told us the child’s growth will be slower than the other children his age.
‘They never told us whether our child would be blind, able to walk, talk or do anything else,’ Abbas said.
After a month Lwandile was moved from ICU to High Care and all this time he was fed milk intravenously.
A speech therapist told the parents the child suffered brain damage and would not grow up normally.
Non-stop cries
When he was discharged, the doctor on call told the parents the child will need to be put on a disability grant.
‘A month later, the child began to cry non-stop. When we went back to the hospital, we were told by hospital management our baby might have been injured either at home or at the KwaMsane Clinic.
They acknowledged the child was disabled, but could not say at what stage he suffered the brain damage,’ said Abbas.
The parents are convinced someone knows the truth about what went wrong when their baby was at the hospital.
KZN Health Department spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said, ‘The department is not allowed to disclose to third parties, including the media, confidential information about a patient except in cases where this is required by a court of law.
‘The department can, however confirm that management and healthcare workers at LUWMH have held a redress meeting with the family.’
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