The actual number of deaths from typhoid at Delmas in Mpumalanga is higher than the official figure of three, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said on Sunday.
”It has been alleged to the TAC by multiple sources that government is underestimating the number of deaths in the current outbreak of diarrhoea and typhoid in Delmas,” said TAC spokesperson Nathan Geffen.
The TAC issued a report on Sunday following their inquiries. An employee at the Delmas hospital told the South African Press Agency (Sapa) that the number of funerals in the area had risen from between six and eight a weekend to up to 24 a weekend since the outbreak of typhoid.
”The hospital is lying. There are more deaths than two or three,” the employee, whose work involves noting deaths at the hospital, told Sapa. He asked not to be named.
The man said that by Friday he had visited at least 11 bereaved families who had reason to believe their relatives had died of typhoid.
He had also attended more than 18 funerals linked to typhoid. When asked why he was visiting the families, he said he had been approached by an official from Pretoria who asked him to ”do research and make records and send it to him in Pretoria so the council can compensate them [families who have lost relatives due
to typhoid]”.
He said the town councillors did not know what he was doing and said it was ”underground”.
He had seen death certificates of many people who had had ”headaches and running stomachs” before they died.
According to the TAC, staff at Delmas Hospital said the outbreak had started in June and not August 22 as generally reported. They also claimed that there were more than 20 typhoid deaths at Delmas hospital alone.
Grace Hlatshwayo (33) who died of typhoid last Sunday in Witbank hospital was buried on Saturday. Her cousin Busi Kabini said she thought there were more deaths than reported.
”Lots of people are dying in Delmas and they are telling people only two or three,” she told Sapa.
A 15-year-old girl, Nontokozo Prudence Dlamini, died on September 1.
”We didn’t realise before that her symptoms were of typhoid,” said family member Princess Thabile Dlamini, adding that she felt certain the girl had died of typhoid.
The TAC claimed in its report that four other families had lost members due to diarrhoea and subsequent death. It also reported having seen death certificates stating typhoid as the cause of death.
The chief executive of Delmas hospital denied the allegation of unreported deaths. He would not confirm any deaths at Delmas hospital.
The team interviewed the family of a 29-year old woman who died at home on Tuesday after being treated at hospital twice for diarrhoea. The family was convinced she died of typhoid.
The TAC claimed to have seen at least three death certificates recording typhoid as the cause of death, but which were not among the official number of victims.
Families interviewed also said their relatives had died after suffering diarrhoea and headaches — symptoms of typhoid — but typhoid was not recorded on the death certificates.
Mpumalanga health department spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said he could not confirm or deny the deaths as they simply did not know.
”The deaths we have confirmed are of people who have been admitted to our facilities. It is within anyone’s right to say more people are dying,” Gabashane said.
He said the allegations being made were misleading.
”We would not put in under wrap[s] if anyone is dying,” he said.
”Our records are public, we don’t need to be embarking on games of who does what. It is not in our interests.”
He said the deaths had to be positively linked to the outbreak before they were confirmed.
Regarding compensation, he said municipalities were investigating the possibility of assisting families to bury their loved ones. – Sapa