Economic Freedom Fighters members at Jan Kempdorp, in the Northern Cape, held a picket at the town’s community health centre after a 48-year-old woman died there allegedly as a result of negligence. Keamogetse Ntuli’s body was found lying on the floor unattended a few days after she was admitted. Her husband, Lebogang Banyatsi, made the discovery when he went to visit her and alleges that she had a broken neck.
It’s a death that left the Banyatsi family shocked and angry. The family has accused the Jan Kempdorp Community Health Centre of leaving their mother, Keamogetse Ntuli, to die on the cold floor of the ward she was in after she fell.
Ntuli’s fiancée, Lebogang Banyatsi, accused the health centre and the provincial Health Department of attempting to cover up what he calls negligence on their part by marking her death as COVID-19 related because she tested positive for the virus.
“It’s painful and it’s dangerous and I’m going to live with it for a long time. She died and these things happened. She didn’t get the proper help in time. So this thing is going to affect me.”
Members of the Northern Cape EFF picketed outside the health centre, demanding that someone accounts for Ntuli’s death. The party’s provincial spokesperson, Obakeng Lechuti, accused the health center and the department of health of not ensuring the safety of patients.
“And the issue that happened here, we say it’s negligence because if ever the management would have ensured that everything is in place and whoever enters here and comes to check their patient and also the patients in the wards are being taken care of then such incidents could have not happened.”
The Northern Cape Health Department says it is investigating the matter.
The Department’s spokesperson is Lebogang Majaha, “As a department, we are aware of an alleged incident in our proactive response, we assigned our management team from the department to meet with the bereaved family and express our heartfelt condolences on the loss of their loved one. We have also committed to conduct further investigations on the alleged incident following the request for the family.”
The family is demanding that a post mortem be conducted on the woman in the hope that it will prove that the facility reneged on its duty to keep her safe, leading to her death.
Jan Kempdorp residents accuse healthcare workers of negligence
