TONGA – Emotions ran high as Lydia Makhoba’s family sat outside Tonga Hospital a few hours after she died.
Makhoba, who passed away on Thursday at around 04:00 is the patient whose video of her lying on the floor in a ward undressed went viral this week.
She was allegedly assaulted and manhandled by a nurse last week after she asked for a bedpan and fell while trying to make her way to the bathroom. Although the Department of Health had confirmed in a statement that action would be taken against three nurses, Makhoba’s family is not happy.
Her sister, Martha Mashaba was helpless after she heard the news of her death. She said it was strange that the hospital staff was exposed and a few days later, her sister dies.
“There is a lot going on in this hospital and my sister told us how they had made fun of her when she was on the floor. She is gone now, but she won’t rest in peace because the people who ill-treated her will continue doing the same to other patients. We need answers and for someone to take accountability. We are shattered and it is going to be very difficult for us as she took care of the family,” she sobbed.
Her daughter, Lola Funzama who had spoken to the media earlier this week together with her other sibling, Phindile, declined to comment as they were emotional.
READ MORE | Family of ill-treated patient seeks justice
Mpumalanga Mirror also spoke to the patient who recorded the video, Constance Khoza, who claims was given a cold shoulder after management held a meeting with Makhoba’s family on Monday.
“They knew it was me because it was only Lydia and I in the Ward. Following the incident, I was discharged while sick without due process on Tuesday, 18 March at around 18:00. They didn’t give me any medication, there was no discharge sheet, there was nothing.”
Before this video went viral, I was told that I would be transferred to Rob Ferreira Hospital, but it never happened. I could sense it all that there is somehow a grudge against me. My intention was never to put anyone on the firing line, but I wanted justice for Makhoba and to show her family the kind of treatment we receive as patients in this hospital. They informed my brother about it when he came to collect me the following day,” said a bedridden Khoza.
This publication interviewed Khoza at her home in Phiva. She was visibly sick and bedridden, covered in a white sheet and unable to move her body.
She says her unemployed brother and her sister-in-law assist her to bath because her condition has made her not to even do basic things. She said all she received from the hospital was masks and latex gloves.
A media inquiry was sent to the Department of Health. However, the department has not responded. Makhoba’s cause of death has also not yet been revealed.
