KZN Covid-19 patients say they are being 'held captive' but health dept will not be held to ransom

An attorney, acting for four Covid-19 positive patients being held in quarantine in Durban’s Addington Hospital, says a court application to have them released “is a distinct possibility”.

“If we don’t get some movement today, we will go to court early next week,” Mark Futcher told TimesLIVE on Friday.

He said his clients - who were among a group of 10 people who travelled to Italy last month, want to be released to self-isolate in their homes. One of the men in the group who was the country's first confirmed Covid-19 case, was admitted to Grey's hospital in Pietermaritzburg after testing positive on March 5.

Futcher said his clients were not complaining about conditions at the hospital.

“In fact they say they have been treated well. But every day they are told by the doctors and experts that they can be released. And then they are not.

“We believe there is inconsistency around this issue. Patient zero, who was at Grey’s Hospital, has yet to test negative, but he has been allowed to go home.”

One of the patients, a banking executive, said: "Addington staff and doctors have been good and the facility is adequate. We have not pushed any request to transfer to a private hospital. So this is not about us being unhappy with the facility. This is about us being kept in a hospital ward for 11 days using state resources that are not required.

"We have been asking to be released to self-isolate at home, which the doctors and NICD are in agreement with, but the MEC for health in KZN is not allowing it without giving us a reason. However, there are over 100 infected people in SA currently self-isolating at home, hence we are asking for consistency.

"Let the hospital beds be made available to those that need hospital care and let us go home to self-isolate until tested negative."

Futcher said if necessary, he would don a mask and gloves and go to the hospital himself on Friday to meet with the hospital manager.

Futcher wrote to the MEC for health in the province on March 19 stating that his clients, who were among a group who travelled to Italy, arriving back on March 1, had been asymptomatic for a number of days.

“They have been told they need to test negative before they will be released.

“Our clients have made numerous appeals to various authorities to be released. One doctor indicated that the request was being considered and apparently granted. At the last minute, however, it was refused,” he said in the letter.

One of his clients had tested negative initially but was still being kept in isolation.

He demanded that his clients be released by midday.

“We make the following undertakings. Our clients will be released into police custody for the secure conveyance to their respective homes. They will self-isolate until such time as they test negative or are instructed differently by the NICD and/or the KZN department of health.

“They will also present themselves at the nominated facility should they develop symptoms once again.”

Futcher said, as yet, he had received no response to his letter.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the department had an obligation to follow all clinical management protocols for confirmed cases and will not be "held to ransom by any individuals who appear to seek special treatment".

"The National Health Act makes it very clear that if any person who is a clinical or laboratory confirmed case, refuses to be tested, treated, isolated or quarantined, the head of a provincial heath department is empowered to approach the high court for an appropriate court order to force the person to comply. If we get pushed, we will not hesitate to go the legal route to safeguard the interests of the public,” Simelane-Zulu said.