POLOKWANE – A family from Luthuli Phase 2 in Seshego say they are consulting with legal representatives to open a case of negligence against the Department of Health, following their daughter’s apparent disappearance from the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning.
For the 12 hours that their daughter was missing after leaving the hospital, the family says they feared the worst as the 20-year-old had just been diagnosed with depression.
The family opted to remain anonymous and, during a sit-down interview at their home, told BONUS that law enforcement and the management of the hospital were of no help in finding their daughter and had they left it to the authorities, she would have still not been found.
The girl’s mother says she began acting strangely around the house in last week.
“She wasn’t eating or sleeping properly and she was visibly going through some form of internal turmoil. It started on June 16. She would pace around aimlessly around the house. When night fell, she struggled to sleep and I eventually took her to bed thinking she would calm down with me there. When we woke up on Saturday, June 19, her situation hadn’t improved and we decided to take her to the hospital that afternoon for professional help,” she explained.
The mother says that when they arrived at the casualty ward, she was attended to and the doctor on duty insisted on blood tests, thinking the girl might have been on drugs. Her results came back negative and she was diagnosed with depression.
“It was only at 02:00 the next morning that she was admitted to Ward F. I gave her a hug and told her I would see her later that morning to bring her toiletries. She wasn’t really responsive but I hoped being in there would make her better.”
The woman says she then awoke to a missed call from the hospital and when she got hold of them, she was asked whether her daughter was home or not.
“We rushed to the hospital and were told that the nurses noticed that she was missing at around 04:00. They only called us at 09:00. Had they notified us earlier, she might have been found before she roamed off,” she said.
After unsuccessful consultations with the hospital, the family decided to search the streets for her, and open a missing person’s case at the Polokwane Police Station.
“After spending the whole day circulating her picture on social media, asking around and calling all her friends, we received a tip-off that she had been spotted around the City Centre Shopping Complex and we made our way there. Once there we gained a bit of hope when we found her morning slippers on the side of the road, which was an indication that she had been there. A security guard then pointed to a bakkie that was parked just next to us and said she was in the car.”
The woman says her daughter was in the company of an older man who was not known to them.
“He told us that our daughter stopped him at around 05:00 that morning and asked him to buy her food. He says she was barefoot and visibly distraught. He then said that he first wanted to run his errands before taking her to the police station.”
The police were called to the scene.
“It is terrifying to think what would have happened to her if we hadn’t arrived there when we did.”
The family now blame the hospital for negligence and fear that now that she’s back in hospital, there’s no assurance that the same thing won’t happen again.
The Chairperson of the Seshego Community Against Crime and Gangsterism (SCACAG) group, Vincent Kunutu says they are providing assistance to the family and told BONUS that it is unacceptable for a person to go missing while admitted at a government institution.
“The department needs to be held responsible for being negligent. They need to inspire confidence back into the community as they are responsible for every patient that is admitted. We want answers and understand how she managed to get out without being noticed by security. They need to let us know what measures will be put into place to ensure it does not happen again,” he said.
Health Spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana says an investigation into the matter is underway at the hospital and as a result, the department cannot give comment as yet.
