PMB hospital managers suspended following death in makeshift facility
The Acting CEO of Pietermaritzburg's Northdale Hospital has been redeployed and two managers suspended - following the death of an elderly man at the facility.
Sibusiso Khumalo, 67 went to the hospital last week after experiencing breathing difficulties and chest pains.
He was taken to a makeshift structure set up for COVID-19 patients in the parking lot of hospital.
He died of hypoxia a few hours later.
In a statement this afternoon, the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department says the medical and nursing managers at the hospital have been suspended with immediate effect.
It says the acting CEO - who's been on sick leave for more than two weeks - will be redeployed back to her original position as a maternal health specialist.
MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu on Tuesday instructed Head of Department, Sandile Tshabalala to put together an independent team to probe the incident.
The department says a team from the University of KwaZulu-Natal has already started looking into the matter.
Simelane-Zulu has also directed that a temporary structure at the hospital, with adequate heating be urgently erected.
The department says this will be built today.
