Cape Town — The Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) Health Department has responded to the incident where a 41-year-old man collapsed outside the KwaMashu Community Health Centre (CHC) on Monday.
The shocking incident occurred in the early hours of Monday morning when the patient arrived at the hospital at 6am and sought help and was directed by security guard to wait in the queue. Patients who witnessed the collapse said the man died while waiting to be helped by the nurses, IOL reported.
The department released a statement and said the discovery was made at around 7:30am in an open space near the pharmacy delivery parking lot in the KwaMashu CHC.
“Without prejudice, the department would like to first convey its deepest condolences to the family and relatives of the deceased patient.”
“The department would like to urge healthcare users and/or their relatives to understand the importance of presenting during early stages of illness to health facilities, in order to afford doctors and nurses the opportunity to make timeous interventions.” the department said.
A patient has died while queuing at a clinic in KwaMashu, outside Durban. He had allegedly been awaiting treatment since 5AM. #Newzroom405‘s @NtandoMnyandu speaks to other patients who witnessed this incident. pic.twitter.com/tbnlu2ZCUu
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) April 22, 2024
A report from the facility management said patients became concerned when they saw the man lying on the floor. They alerted the security guards, who told the nurses and tried to summon some help.
“Upon examination by the doctors, the patient was found to have no vital signs and therefore declared dead.” the report said.
The Department said the patient’s file was retrieved and his relatives were informed.
“The department would like to urge healthcare users and/or their relatives to understand the importance of presenting during early stages of illness to health facilities, in order to afford doctors and nurses the opportunity to make timeous interventions.
According to East Coast Radio, Health department HOD Sandile Tshabalala says those visiting health facilities when ill, need to do it sooner.
Our reason for saying that is because on the examination and checking this particular patient we found that it is a patient who had been our client but had not been to our facility for some time and came in at a very late stage in terms of the illness, which we may think is the reason for what we have seen happening in this instance.”
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
