“WHY was there an open wound on our dead father’s forehead?”
That is what the Mabuzas wanted to know from Letaba Hospital in Nkowankowa, Limpopo.
Tintswalo Mabuza (31) said when the leg of her father, Doctor Mabuza (65), was cut by corrugated iron while he was fixing a shack on 3 May, they rushed him to hospital.
“On our arrival at casualty at about 11 am, they saw he had diabetes and his blood sugar levels were high. A doctor only attended to him at 4pm and he was admitted and my mother and I went home,” she said.
But they got a terrible shock the next morning when Tintswalo received a call from the hospital that her father had died and they could only see his body on the Monday as it was Saturday.
“We wanted to rush to the hospital immediately, but they said we should come on Monday.
“On that day we were shocked when viewing my dad’s body to find an open wound on his forehead and suspected he was hit with an object, which caused his death.
“We went back to the matron’s office and demanded answers, but she wasn’t aware of the wound. After speaking to nurses who were on duty that particular night, she came up with the story that he might have fallen off the bed. But why were we not told that in the first place?”
Tintswalo suspected something evil happened to him.
“After the doctor saw him, he put him on a drip to lower his blood sugar level. My father died because he was neglected,” she said.
Limpopo Health spokesman Neil Shikwambane said: “The patient was admitted with a cut.
“Clinic management spoke to the family and explained how the patient died.
“We thought they understood and are shocked by the allegations raised.”
