The state of South Africa’s public healthcare system is absolutely ridiculous: medical negligence, woeful sanitation standards and poor management are amongst the reasons why this is so.

In this tragic case, the family of the late Bonokuhle Khali had to worry about hungry rodents.

In a report by Times LIVE, Nkonjeni District Hospital in Zululand is coming under fire after rats fed on Khali’s corpse that had been left outside a corridor for several hours.

He had arrived at the hospital on May 16 after complaining of pain in his chest when he was hit by a car in his rural homestead, and he later died on May 22.

The report has the details (warning: graphic content):

When Bonokuhle Khali [pictured below] died in Nkonjeni District Hospital in Zululand, nurses left his body in a dimly lit corner in the male ward where rats spent hours eating the flesh on his face.

As his body lay just metres from sick patients in the ward, the rodents scurried under and over the sheet that covered it, chewing on his nose and lips.

“When I wanted to see my brother they first handed me a clear bag with rat droppings … that is how they told me my brother had been eaten by rats,” his furious brother Jerome Khali told the Sunday Times.

State pathologists ruled that Khali had died of natural causes.

His brother demanded to see his body, and he was absolutely taken aback at the sight:

I went to the mortuary and saw his face like that … the rats had taken his lips and his nose. It is something I will never forget. I was so angry and demanded to see his whole body in case they had bitten him somewhere else.

Heartbreaking stuff.

But it seems like Jerome is trying to seek justice on his late brother’s behalf:

Jerome said he had met representatives of the hospital management in the days following his brother’s death and had been promised that an investigation would be conducted.

“They said they would tell me what they found and I have heard nothing since then. It feels like they didn’t care about his death because no one even came to the funeral. It was as if the rats had eaten something they were supposed to eat, they didn’t care.”

Ugh, is it any wonder our healthcare system is in bloody shambles?

Meanwhile, Ncumisa Mafunda, a spokeswoman for the provincial department of health, said a probe was underway:

The demise of any individual is always a sad occasion. To this end, and without prejudice, the department wishes to convey its sincere condolences to the family.

With all due respect, they’ll need to do better than a half-arsed apology and get cracking on the investigation, pronto.

Not to mention getting South African hospitals to buck up – horror stories like Khali’s shouldn’t arise nearly as often as they do.

[source:timeslive]