KZN Health Department mourns nursing stalwarts
KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said the shoes of two healthcare workers of Manguzi and Ntunjambili hospitals who died in separate incidents earlier this week, will be hard to fill.
‘We are deeply saddened to bid farewell to these dedicated healthcare workers who died in tragic circumstances. It is always painful to lose colleagues in this manner.
‘We are poorer, because no amount of money can buy the kind of experience they had between them. We want to assure their families that they are in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,’ Dhlomo said.
Thandazile Octavia Manzini (55), a midwife and Operations Manager at Manguzi Hospital’s maternity unit was killed in a horrific crash involving a car and a truck on the R33 at Isimangaliso on Monday.
She was on her way back from the KwaMsane Clinic, where she had conducted training for nurses in midwifery.
Manzini joined the department in 1986, starting at Mseleni Hospital where she stayed for two years before moving to Manguzi Hospital, where she worked for the past 30 years.
‘She was teaching other nurses at clinics in the uMkhanyakude area. She was one of a kind. We scored many successes and won awards thanks to her. We are doing extremely well in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, which stands at 1%, thanks largely to her efforts.
‘We have not had a maternal death in three years because of her. She visited clinics and worked with nurses all over. We’ve lost one in a million,’ CEO of Manguzi Hospital, Dr Siphiwe Vumase, said.
In a separate incident, Phathakahle Jali, the Operational Manager responsible for mobile clinics at Untunjambili Provincial Hospital near Kranskop, was gunned down at his residence on Monday.
The 40-year-old had worked for the department since 2001. He worked as a professional nurse, clinical nurse practitioner and, ultimately, Operational Manager: Mobile Clinics.