A Port Elizabeth man was told by Dora Nginza Hospital his mother had died while she was alive and well at home, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday.
A horrified Vusumzi Blom, of Zwide in Port Elizabeth, rushed to his mother’s house in New Brighton after receiving the news — only to find her in good health and sleeping in bed. ”I was so shocked and afraid that she was dead that when I got to her house I shook her until she woke up,” he said.
The letter informing him of her ”death” was an apparent mix-up, although the hospital has not been able adequately to explain the cause of the confusion.
Blom said it stated that his mother, Ntombizodwa Gertrude Blom, died on March 2. He was asked to collect his mother’s remains, or arrangements would be made for a pauper burial.
Attempts to get comment from the hospital on Monday were unsuccessful.
Ntombizodwa’s main worry was that she would be declared dead and lose her grant.
”It’s not easy being dead,” she said. — Sapa