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Afro Voice reports that the Mpumalanga provincial department of health has promised to strengthen its security measures at hospitals and clinics in the entire province after a nurse was stabbed in the neck by a patient who is suspected to be mentally disturbed.
The latest incident happened at a clinic in Glenmore near Carolina on Monday where a nurse was apparently providing treatment to a patient who then produced a sharp object and stabbed her.
Health MEC, Gillion Mashego’s spokesperson Dumisani Malamule said they were shocked by the attack on their medical personnel and said such behaviour would not be tolerated as it put the lives of staff at risk and hindered the provision of viable healthcare to the community. Malamule said the nurse was taken to the nearby Embhuleni Hospital where she was treated and discharged.
He said the initial investigation revealed the patient was well known to the clinic personnel as a regular and the exact circumstances which caused him to turn on the nurse remained unclear.
Almost a month ago, a doctor was also attacked and killed at Tinstwalo Hospital in Acornhoek near Bushbuckridge.
A few years ago, another young medical doctor who was originally from KwaZulu-Natal, was also stabbed to death by a patient at Middelburg Hospital.
“We are indeed concerned about the attacks on our staff members at clinics and hospitals and this puts their lives at stake. The mentally-ill patient had regularly been taking treatment from the same clinic. The incident happened after armed guards were placed at our institutions and we are planning to intensify security as this is a matter of serious concern,” Malamule said. He said the suspect had been arrested. The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa’s (Denosa’s) provincial secretary, Mzwandile Shongwe, said the incident was disturbing because Denosa had always said security guards must do their work and now it had been proven their members were unsafe.
“As Denosa, we call on the provincial government to allow the department of health to manage the safety of facilities.
“We call on the department of health to stop outsourcing security as most of these are always found wanting and not well resourced, let alone efficient.”
The original of this report by France Nyaka appeared on page 16 of Afro Voice of 21 June 2018
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