Student, 21, dies of asthma attack at NWU

The official statement is Paballo died before anyone could do anything

A 21-YEAR-OLD BCom student died of an asthma attack at North-West University’s (NWU), Mahikeng campus under circumstances that have left his parents concerned at whether the institution could have done more to save his life.

As the world celebrates World Asthma Day today, Senuku Metswamere is battling to deal with her son Paballo’s death, who died at the campus security post which he rushed to, when he started having the attack.

It is alleged that the campus’ First Aid response car was called but took too long to arrive at the security post where Paballo was. Nor did the security vehicle rush him to the clinic which is about 10 minutes away, for him to get help.

The official statement is that Paballo died before anyone could do anything and that when the campus First Aid vehicle arrived, he had already died.

Metswamere said the family was devastated by Paballo’s death and hoped that more could be done by NWU to prevent further deaths from occurring.

“What bothers me is that there was a vehicle there that could have taken him to the hospital, but they waited for an ambulance to arrive – which took long,” Metswamere told the Cape Times’s sister newspaper The Star yesterday. She said that the she received a call from Paballo that evening, asking her to bring him his extra asthma pump.

“It was already late and I knew he was studying, preparing for a test, and I didn’t take the pump to him,” she said.

Apparently as the night progressed, Paballo’s condition worsened because he called his mother to bring his asthma pump.

But she missed the calls as her cellphone was charging.

“He called again and pleaded with me to come and fetch him.

“I arranged transport to take me to the residence so I could get my son and take him to a hospital.

“When I tried to call him back he wasn’t answering the phone,” she said.

As Metswamere does not have a car, she battled to get transport from her village of Dithakong that would take her to the university at that time of the night.

After some time, she managed to get someone who would take her.

Upon her arrival at the university, she found her son on the floor, surrounded by fellow students and security personnel.

“I was told that the First Aid vehicle was called but was not authorised to take him to the hospital and they had to wait for an EMS vehicle to arrive.

“At that point my son had already passed on,” she said.

“My husband even checked for a pulse, but found none.”

She said three hours had elapsed since her son’s first attempt to get help.

The 21-year-old student was buried last Friday.

A student at the campus, who preferred to remain anonymous, said Paballo was not immediately taken to a nearby hospital by the institution’s First Aid response team.

“He got to the security post by the residence and pleaded for help. Security called the university’s emergency personnel, but they took long and when they arrived he had already passed on,” said the student.

“The student collapsed at the residents’ entrance but by the time the ambulances arrived the student had already passed on.”

He added that the loss of a student’s life, regardless of where it might happen, remained a tragedy to the university.