/ 5 March 2001

Mpumalanga health MEC to explain negligence

PHILLIP NKOSI, Nelspruit | Monday

THE South African Human Rights Commission has subpoenaed Mpumalanga’s controversial health MEC Sibongile Manana to explain why the State neglected a 10-year boy who was left paralysed and brain damaged after a bungled operation four years ago.

Zweli Methule was left paralysed and brain damaged, without the ability to speak, sit or perform any motor functions, after a simple operation to set his broken arm went horribly wrong four years ago.

Methule is one of two known identical victims of apparent medical malpractice at Mpumalanga’s second biggest hospital, Themba, near the capital Nelspruit.

The boy was, however, discharged and has allegedly been denied a disability grant, any compensation for the injuries and has also allegedly been ignored by social and medical workers who have failed to give him physiotherapy or any other counselling.

Health officials visited his family three weeks ago at the beginning of the SAHRC’s preliminary probe and promised Methule immediate treatment if relatives pledged not to speak to the Press.

Manana will appear before a SAHRC hearing along with Themba hospital’s superintendent hospital, Dr Abraham Varghese and the doctor who operated on Methule, Dr Abdullah Lubego.

The investigation folows four years of bureaucratic buck-passing in Mpumalanga.

The SAHRCs Phumla Mthala said Methules social and physical conditions continue to be very tenuous, with his grandmother providing sole care for the child. Dr Lubego was retained at the hospital and does not appear to have been subjected to any internal or medial board investigation for malpractice.

“In our opinion, the conduct of Manana, the hospital [an organ of state], and the practitioner constitutes a prima facie violation of section 28(1)(c) of the constitution [every child has a right to basic health care services and social services] and section 33 [everyone has a right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair],” said the SAHRC. – African Eye News Service