Man stable after suffering burns at Durban hospital
KwaZulu-Natal Health says it is overseeing internal investigations into whether proper procedures were followed when admitting a mentally ill patient who suffered burns at Durban's Wentworth Hospital, south of city.
The man was allegedly locked inside one of the facility's single wards and left alone for hours last week.
He apparently set the curtains and mattress alight with a lighter. The department's Agiza Hlongwane says the patient is getting the necessary care.
"He was seen to by medical practitioners and he is in a stable condition. Management is looking into circumstances around how he ended up getting burned. We will take the necessary steps should anyone be found guilty of wrongdoing," Hlongwane said.
Meanwhile, the IFP's provincial head of health, Ncamisile Nkwanyana says there are not enough adequately trained medical professionals to attend to such cases.
"There must be more trained staff concerning such patients. If somebody is mentally ill, you can never take that patient as a simple case. There are ways and means of how to treat that patient because he is mentally ill," Nkwanyana said.
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