WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT: Limpopo family unhappy over negligence by health department

A family of an elderly woman in Limpopo who was infested with maggots in her mouth after she was admitted at Maphutha Malatji Hospital outside Phalaborwa, has criticised the provincial Health Department for not taking care of patients.

The Malatji family in Namakgale says an 84-year-old Mmabotse Malatji was discharged from hospital on the 22nd of this month while she was in a bad state of health with maggots inside her mouth. The family has photos and video of the patient.

The patient was unable to speak after suffering from shortness of breath when she was admitted at Maphutha Malatji Hospital at the end of September. She was then discharged from hospital on the 22nd of this month.

On their arrival at home, the family saw a horrifying scene of maggots in the elderly woman’s mouth. 84-year-old Mmabotse Malatji was then taken back to hospital for re-admission the following day.

Family Spokesperson Lalela Letakgomo says they are disappointed in the manner which the patients are treated at the hospital.

“Patients at Maphutha Malatji Hospital are not taken care of. We are very disappointed, very hurt, traumatized because when we took her there we thought she was in good hands because that was a health facility but we are very disappointed with our hospital. We are aware that the lady has grown. So, because she has grown she has to die with worms in her mouth?”

Letakgomo indicates that the family has made contact with health authorities, including MEC Phophi Ramathuba, for their  intervention but their efforts were in vain.

“We want justice for our grandmother. Our government has hired people who are not doing their job. We even called the MEC to explain this to her. What she said to me is that she will call Maphutha Malatji then they might organize a dentist to my grandmother and that she would come back to me but she never did.”

Limpopo’s health department has not yet issued a comment.