'This needs to be dealt with' — SA reacts to health ombud report on Shonisani Lethole's death

Shonisani Lethole who died at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary hospital in June last year is trending on Twitter, as scores demand justice for the 34-year-old.

South Africans on Wednesday learnt of the circumstances surrounding Lethole's care and death at the hospital during health ombud Dr Malegapuru Makgoba's presentation of a report on the incident.

The probe found that Lethole's body lay on a hospital bed for over 10 hours until he was certified dead by a doctor the following day.

The doctor on duty, Dr Babayombe Bangala, was called twice by the nursing staff, but could not attend to Lethole as he was with another patient. Instead of following up on Lethole, Bangala knocked off without certifying Lethole dead.

During his stay at the hospital last year, Lethole reached out to health minister Zweli Mkhize about the appalling conditions at the hospital.

He tweeted the minister: “Dr Zweli Mkhize can I respond to your tweets if the problems I have at one of your facilities continues it's becoming unbearable and they don't seem to care. Didn't eat for 48 hours.”

The report found that Lethole was not offered food for the duration of his stay at the hospital for 100 hours and 54 minutes. He died of overwhelming SARS-CoV-2-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome, with multisystem dysfunction which was worsened by poor and negligent medical care.

Makgoba said: “I can't go beyond my recommendations. When you make your recommendations you make them on the values of the health system and have to balance all those things. I can't recommend for people to be removed from their professional associations or bodies.”

He called on health-care workers to consider their jobs as a calling, rather than a way of earning an income.

Some praised the move to investigate and release the report publicly, while others lamented the state of the country's health-care system.

Here are some of the reactions: