Hospital staff live in fear of violent patients

STAFF at Ngqushwa’s Nompumelelo Hospital feel constantly unsafe because they are often assaulted by psychiatric patients.

They say the patients often become aggressive and try to leave the hospital.

What compounds the problem is that the premises does not have a gate, only a boom, and the fence at the back of the hospital has a gaping hole in it.

The staff said fights often broke out at the casualty section.

A hospital security guard died last month after he was assaulted by a psychiatric patient in September.

Nkosinathi Dumisa, 38, had been working as a security guard at the hospital since 2012.

“They tried to treat him at Nompumelelo but they could not, so they transferred him to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital and then to Frere Hospital,” his distraught father, David Dumisa, said.

“At Frere, doctors said he had a lot of head injuries.

“According to them there was a nerve that was damaged.”

This tragedy occurred after a psychiatric patient had become aggressive and tried to discharge himself.

Once he reached the entrance of the hospital Dumisa tried to stop him, but he was assaulted.

The patient only stopped the assault when a taxi driver nearby took a sjambok from his car and hit the patient until he stopped.

The family was told Dumisa’s assault and death was not the hospital’s responsibility because he was not employed by the hospital but by an outside security company.

Last month, a nurse was assaulted by a psychiatric patient.

Another patient escaped through the hole in the fence and died at a nearby tavern after banging his head against a wall.

Last month, a fight broke out between patients when a man saw his rival being treated at casualty.

Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo denied any security problems at the hospital.

“The department has a very effective private security company rendering services at Nompumelelo.

“The department is facing a general problem of criminals trying to finish off their victims when they are in our care.

“The province is also battling with an increasing rate of mental illness.

“District hospitals do not keep psychiatric patients but are supposed to keep them under observation for 72 hours before they are transferred to psychiatric institutions. However, due to the high number of psychiatric patients, we end up keeping them for longer due to bed shortages,” he said. —