Access to Free State’s biggest hospital limited after attacks

The management of Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein is awaiting a security report from the South African Police Service (Saps) and other relevant stakeholders that will indicate if additional security measures implemented recently at the hospital are sufficient.

The chief executive officer (CEO), Baesi Ramodula, said the hospital, the largest in the Free State, is naturally a security risk due to its location. The hospital is flanked by Heidedal and Bochabela townships.

As a result, the hospital has engaged local councillors in these residential areas regarding limiting the number of gates and doors that can be accessed at night.

Ramodula says for now, the hospital only keeps two gates open at night, with the doors to the casualty, trauma and maternity units being the only ones that can be accessed at night in case of emergencies.

Security guards are monitoring all these points and carrying out patrols.

She urged community members to also exercise greater caution when in the hospital, further imploring the community to refrain from disturbing and attacking health practitioners at the facility.

She pointed out that this is a societal issue, as opposed to an institutional one.

In June 2019, an intern at Pelonomi bit off a man’s part of tongue as he attempted to assault the 24-year-old doctor while she was resting in one of the overnight staff quarters.

Recently, it was reported the man had been declared a state patient and will not stand trial. He has been placed at the Free State psychiatric complex.

The South African Journal of Psychiatry defines state patients as “individuals who have been charged with offences involving serious violence and who have been declared unfit to stand trial and/or who are not criminally responsible because of their mental illness or defect.

“They are referred by the courts for treatment, rehabilitation and indefinite detention at a forensic psychiatric facility”.

A second doctor was attacked days after the attack, resulting in the University of the Free State temporarily suspending training at the hospital to protect their students. – OFM News