MBOMBELA- The MEC for Health in Mpumalanga, Mr Gillion Mashego has learnt with shock about the passing of the 11 year-old-boy who was burnt in a shack at Embalenhle in Secunda July 31 at about 02:45am.
“This is very sad indeed that we lost the boy just an hour after he has arrived. We had high hopes that he will have a better chance of living now that he had been admitted in that hospital. Our heartfelt condolences are with the bereaved family. Again I would like to thank SASOL and the Red Cross Children Hospital in Cape Town for their efforts in saving the boy’s life” said MEC Mashego.
The patient, Vusi Shabangu passed away within an hour of arrival in Cape Town on August 18. According to doctors at the Red Cross Children Hospital in Cape Town, the patient succumbed to overwhelming pseudomonas sepsis (an infection into the wounds). The temperature was 41 degrees, and the wounds were infected with pseudomonas.
The patient was flown into the hospital in Cape Town on the 18th of August 2016 after giant fuel company, SASOL in Secunda and the Red Cross Children Hospital in Cape Town, offered their services to have the boy admitted in the hospital for treatment.
Vusi sustained 96% burn wounds all over his body. The patient was successfully resuscitated. Due to the seriousness of the boy’s condition, the Department contacted Red Cross Children Hospital in Cape Town on Monday the 15th of August 2016 to request them to admit the patient. This was after several hospitals in other provinces could not provide assistance.
The hospital agreed and also committed that they will treat the patient for free even though there is no Memorandum of Understanding between the Mpumalanga and Western Cape Department of Health.
