Python victim back in hospital

2007-03-11 19:37

Kulani Mavunda and Sydney Masinga

Nelspruit - A 15-year-old Mpumalanga schoolboy who survived an attack by a giant python last week, was re-admitted to hospital on Friday after his mother complained that he had not received proper medical care.

Donald Nkosi, 15, of Thekwane North in Nelspruit, was discharged from the Temba hospital in KaBokweni near White River last Wednesday after his brush with the snake two days previously.

Nkosi said he was attacked by the snake on his way to school last Monday. The giant reptile - believed to be an African rock python - coiled itself around his body and began suffocating him before it was shot and killed by a passer-by.

Donald's mother, Lily Magagula, said on Friday that her son, who had suffered bruising to his abdomen and chest, was still in pain and had been unable to sleep since his ordeal.

She said Donald had told her that he had not received counselling at the hospital and that he had not been X-rayed to establish whether any of his bones had been broken. He said the only medication he received was pain killers and cough syrup.

"My son can't even sleep without waking up or screaming. Sometimes he wants to run away in the middle of the night. He says he keeps seeing the snake. His nightmares have become a nightmare for me as well. You can tell by looking at him that he is not well - he is so weak that he can't even stand straight or walk unaided. The hospital should have organised counselling and X-rays for him," Magagula said.

No serious injuries

But Mpumalanga health department spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said the hospital's matron informed him that the boy had, in fact, received counselling and had been X-rayed.

Gabashane said Donald was discharged last Wednesday because the doctor who examined him found no evidence of any serious injuries such as broken bones.

He said, however, that the department had decided to readmit Donald to the hospital late on Friday afternoon as a precautionary measure on the advice of a social worker who visited the boy earlier in the day.

"We will also conduct a medical review and check his file to see whether he was X-rayed," Gabashane said.

- African Eye