Monkey menace at RK Khan Hospital

IT'S NOT a lie or an exaggeration but a fact. RK Khan Hospital is being overrun by monkeys (RK Khan Hospital plagued by monkeys, Mercury, April 11).

Patients, visitors and two unions, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union and the Democratic and Nursing Organisation of South Africa can testify to the fact that the hospital is plagued by vervet monkeys.

Over the years, the hospital has built a disreputable reputation as a bad health-care institution. The sick and the wounded dread going to the hospital. Patients often complain of the poor treatment they get at the hospital, by interns and inexperienced doctors.

While some say they'd rather suffer and die at home than take their chances at the hospital, others – the poor and the unfortunate who do not have medical aid – have no choice but to use the hospital.

While it's true that conditions have improved, the monkey menace has not been resolved. In fact, it's been getting worse over the years. But the hospital director denies that the problem is as serious as we make it out to be. He says they have taken measures to combat the marauding bands of monkeys that descend on the hospital. The patients and workers don't agree with him.

The monkeys remain a threat at the hospital. Way back in 2019, the media carried articles about monkeys being a nuisance at the hospital. I replied to the article, defending the monkeys.

Then again, in 2023, The Mercury's sister newspaper, The Sunday Tribune, had another article on the monkey problem. The problem was so serious that the then-health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, visited the hospital. He denied that the monkeys posed a health risk. Again, I wrote in defence of them.

We have destroyed their habitat and built our concrete jungles. Where must they go for food but raid our well-stocked homes and hospitals? If you had watched Planet Earth III, you would have realised that we, humans, are the pests, not animals.

The Mercury again reported that residents of Durban North and uMhlanga are not having any peace in their plush suburbs.

They have held a meeting to try

to resolve the monkey problem. In China, monkeys have learnt to live off unsuspecting tourists. They grab their food and steal their hats, slippers and cellphones and then barter with them for food.

But even if you are an animal lover, you can't have them raiding the hospital. You have sick people in there.

They go to a hospital for treatment; not to be harassed by monkeys. Animal experts should be called in to resolve the situation.

We have created the problem, not the monkeys.

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof