The hospital in which patients died in the care of one of Zuma’s Cuban doctors is to be sued by Hendrina Fember, daughter of one of the victims, reports Mungo Soggot
THE daughter of a patient who died in the care of the Pietersburg Hospital’s controversial Cuban anaesthetist is enraged at the cover-up of an investigation into the doctor – and intends suing the hospital.
Hendrina Fember accompanied her 68-year-old mother, Isabel Buys, who went to the hospital late last year for an operation on a blocked vein in her leg. When she telephoned to ask about her mother, Fember was told she had died.
Fember’s mother was anaesthetised by one of the Cuban doctors imported by the Health Minister, Dr Nkosazana Zuma. After four patients died in the anaesthetist’s care, Northern Province’s superintendent general, Nicholas Crisp, asked the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists to conduct an independent investigation.
The investigation by eight anaesthesiologists raised serious concerns about the doctor’s performance. But the Northern Province’s MEC for Health and Welfare, Joe Phaahla, whitewashed their report – after discussing it with Zuma -and lambasted the media for sensational coverage of the matter.
Phaahla appeared on national television on March 12 and said the investigation had “cleared” the anaesthetist.
Fember says she has not contacted either Zuma or Phaahla because she fears she will “get very cross and say lots of things that I am not supposed to say. They made the cover-up.”
Fember, who is in contact with the Society of Anaesthesiologists, says she suspected foul play “from the beginning. When I phoned the hospital I was suspicious . they said my mother had been critically ill. I knew she was basically in good health.
“I don’t know how to express myself. I am very disappointed.” Fember is also in contact with the Pietersburg police, who are investigating the case. She says her docket, and those of the three other patients, have been sent to the attorney general. Another of the patients was a seven-year-old girl. As yet, there has been no inquest into the deaths.
“I want justice,” says Fember. “Money will not help. I want them [the health authorities and the hospital] to admit he made a mistake.”
Phaahla’s statement on the investigation, issued on the same day he appeared on television, read: “We have appointed a team of anaesthetics [sic] to conduct a peer review of the deaths in question. They were critical of some aspects of the management of the cases. But, as with all such reports, the reviewer had the benefit of hindsight and it would be next to impossible to have two doctors, especially specialists, to agree 100% about the management of any specific case.
“All in all, because of the sensationalist coverage that this [sic] cases attracted, the affected doctor found himself under such pressure that he could no longer perform optimally and has had to be released from his contract.”
Professor Leon du Preez, president of society, said there was “complete variance between the findings of the committee and the comments attributed to Minister Phaahla.”
The doctor involved has returned to Cuba.