Cape Town – A South African male patient at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital in Kimberley reportedly stabbed two female doctors and another patient with a knife before he was restrained by security personnel.
According to Times Live, the incident occurred over the weekend in the hospital’s casualty ward.
The doctors were stabbed in their arms.
The South African Medical Association (Sama) condemned the incident, saying it was an example of how public hospitals failed to adequately protect staff.
“Incidents such as these erode the confidence of doctors that they are able to perform their duties in a safe environment,” the report quoted Sama chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee.
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The suspect was arrested and was expected to appear in the magistrate’s court this week.
Such incidents are not rare.
News outlet CP24.com reported in 2020 that a 45-year-old South African-born doctor, Walter Reynolds, was killed in a Canadian clinic allegedly by a patient wielding a hammer and a machete.
Following the incident, the suspect, a 54-year-old man from Alberta appeared in court charged with first-degree murder.
“We are all shaken by this tragic event. I imagine that, though this was an isolated incident, it leaves a mark on all health-care professionals, as we wonder about the safety of our own workplaces and the personalized patient care that is the bedrock of our profession,” provincial chief medical officer of health, Dr Deena Hinshaw was quoted as saying at the time.
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