Nurses’ suspension and final warning revoked in clinic case

The suspension and final warning meted against two nurses who were previously attached to Khakhu clinic were revoked by an independent appeals committee last week.

The provincial spokesperson of the Department of Health, Mr Macks Lesufi, said that the negligence case against the two nurses was dismissed when their appeal was heard.

“The department heard their case after the complaint by the parents of the late child,” he said, “and the department's disciplinary committee gave what it deemed an appropriate sentence against the nurses.”

Initially, one nurse had been served with a final written warning while the other was suspended for a month and served with a final written warning. The nurse who had been put on one-month suspension was not satisfied with the department's decision and she lodged an appeal. “The independent appeal committee found that there was no scientific evidence or proof that the nurses were negligent or guilty,” he said.

According to Lesufi, the nurses would have reported back to work at the time of going to press.

This case made newspaper headlines late last year when three nurses at the Khakhu clinic allegedly refused to help the 19-month-old baby Mulalo Prince Mulaudzi.

Mulalo's parents, Mr Mashudu and Mrs Mumsy Mulaudzi, criticised the department's decision this week.

“What I have just realised with our government is that the important thing is for the nurses to go back to work,” he said. “Human life is not (as) important here in Limpopo's health department.” Mulaudzi argued that the nurses on duty should have called for an ambulance to rush his son to hospital if it was true that they were busy attending to another patient. “People who say that those nurses are not guilty do not even go to government clinics or hospitals when they are sick. They know that there is no help in those health centres!”

Mulaudzi said that there was an official who had identified himself as Mr Nengudza from Vhembe's health office. Nengudza supposedly told him to stop wasting his time because the media had already taken his case to the Public Protector, who would then address it accordingly. “He thinks I am a fool,” Mulaudzi said. “He has been trying to cover up everything and discouraging me from complaining to his office.”

Mulaudzi said that his final resolve was to seek a lawyer and appeal against the department's decision to dismiss the case.

Date:22 August 2014

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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