The outraged family of a mentally challenged Mbizana man has accused two Greenville Hospital male nurses and a cleaner of torturing and severely assaulting him. He died soon after, allegedly of the injuries.
The three have appeared in court charged with murder, having allegedly acted out of revenge after Simthembile Khuzwayo, 28, who was an outpatient at Greenville, assaulted a male nurse in the village near where the hospital is situated.
While the initial assault happened on March 7, it only came to the attention of the media at the man’s funeral over the weekend.
It is alleged that the nurse who had been assaulted mobilised some colleagues to look for Khuzwayo in the village and punish him.
They then rushed him to hospital, where he later died.
Phumphele Khuzwayo, the mother of the victim, is devastated over the incident and has called for the state to deal harshly with the perpetrators.
She said her family and the community were still shocked by Khuzwayo’s death, and that he was allegedly killed by people who worked in the medical profession.
“I cannot imagine how a professional nurse would carry out such cruelty on a patient.
“They knew my son was mentally disturbed,” said Khuzwayo. “I am a retired hospital employee myself.
“ I have never heard of such a thing by nurses. They should have known how to deal with a mentally disturbed patient.
“The government must be harsh on these employees, because even if they are jailed, my son will never come back. They must lose their jobs,” she said.
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said he was deeply shocked and that the law must take its course.
“While the incident allegedly happened outside the hospital premises, it is regrettable that nurses, who are supposed to look after the sick and save their lives, now stand accused of such an inhumane act,” said Kupelo.
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) provincial secretary Khaya Sodidi said they were also disturbed by the incident.
“If this is true, nurses should know better how to handle a mentally disturbed person.
“We condemn such barbaric action which should not have happened because nurses know how to handle a situation like that – reporting to the authorities and then taking the patient, making sure the patient is admitted to the psychiatric institution because of his behaviour.
“As Denosa, we are really disturbed and condemn .
“There must be a full investigation into what really transpired,” he said.
Provincial police spokesman Captain Khaya Tonjeni confirmed that a murder case had been opened.
“We can confirm that the suspects appeared in court facing a charge of murder, and they were all released on bail of R1500,” he said.
The case was remanded to April 26 for trial. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za