The family of a woman, who was allegedly refused dialysis treatment, says they intend to sue the department of health after the woman died.
62-year-old Patience Mocwane was suffering from renal failure and was denied critical dialysis treatment from the state-run Kimberley Hospital for nearly two years. The family says she was denied access to healthcare because of age discrimination.
Two days after a two-year battle for her right to healthcare ended, Patience Mocwane took her last breath. And her family is devastated.
Mocwane was diagnosed with renal failure in 2016 and was told by doctors at the state run Kimberley Hospital that she was too old to receive dialysis.
On Tuesday, the department of health promised to intervene but it proved too little too late. Mocwane’s son, Oupa Mocwane, says the family is taking the department to court.
“We are going to do this for my mother. We are going to take further steps so that tomorrow nobody is going to experience what my mother has experienced. And we feel that the department of Health must pay for my mother’s death. We don’t know how but they are going to pay for my mother’s death.”
The Northern Cape Department of Health met with the family and is investigating the conduct of the health professionals who attended to Mocwane.
Department spokesperson Lebogang Majaha says, “We cannot pre-empt the outcome as some of the investigations are currently under way. But we are hopeful that as soon as that matter has been clarified, we will obviously chart a way forward in that matter.”
The provincial department of health would not divulge whether the medical practitioners are still in their jobs.
