Load shedding deaths: Answers wanted on Faith’s death
THE Malatji family in Bolobedu wants the DA and even the Public Protector to probe the shocking death of their niece at the Letaba Hospital last week when load shedding hit at the hospital.
The DA has laid criminal charges against the Letaba Hospital and the provincial department of health after three patients died when load shedding hit the hospital.
LIMPOPO – THE Malatji family in Bolobedu wants the DA and even the Public Protector to probe the shocking death of their niece at the Letaba Hospital last week when load shedding hit at the hospital.
on Monday, an angry Philemon Malatji said his niece, Faith (41) was one of the three patients who died when load shedding hit, cutting off their life support machines.
Faith had been admitted the previous week due to cerebral haemorrhage.
“The sad thing is that the family only got to learn of Faith’s passing through a radio broadcast. No one at the hospital cared to inform us. What is more disturbing is that her death certificate says she died due to natural causes, but the family knows full well that she had a cerebral haemorrhage.
“She is survived by her two children. The eldest works part-time at Shoprite, while the youngest is still in gr. 2. We are not undermining other political parties, if the ANC, EFF or Cope want to help us with investigations into Faith’s death, they are allowed to come on board,” said Malatji.
Limpopo DA chairperson, Langa Bodlani, said the provincial department of health insisted that there was only one death, that of a diabetic patient who was in the ICU.
“Our public healthcare system should be a model of excellence, empowering South Africans to live healthy and productive lives. There should be nothing else than a full accountability for cases of extreme negligence, as witnessed at Letaba Hospital. We have established that there was an unfuelled or faulty generator at the hospital. This was also confirmed by the minister for health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi when he visited the hospital last week,” said Bodlani.
“This corroborates the version we obtained from an independent whistle-blower who was at the hospital when these deaths occurred.
“According to Malatji, the nurse at the hospital, without being questioned, sought to reassure the Malatji family that the death was not caused by load shedding. There are many grey areas in this debacle, which warrants no less than a fully-fledged investigation. On behalf of the Malatji family, we demand a post mortem to be conducted by an independent pathologist to establish the cause and time of death,” he said.
“The Malatji family should be assisted to access legal recourse to take on government and ensure justice is done. We demand that the provincial government hold the hospital officials accountable who are responsible for negligently causing the deaths of these patients.
“We will engage in a series of protest actions until the family’s demands are met. The provincial department of health is accountable and must put measures in place to ensure all generators function all the time when needed.”
Spokesperson for the provincial department of health, Macks Lesufi issued a statement saying only one patient died, who was being moved from ICU to theatre.
He further said the patient didn’t die as a result of power failure.
“The patient had a chronic disease and a postmortem will confirm the cause of death. The generator is functional and it’s unfortunate that the DA chose to grandstand in the legislature before even verifying the facts,” said Lesufi.
Number of load shedding deaths in dispute
Load shedding deaths at hospital
