'Cancer killed patient'

2005-02-08 19:57

Pretoria - Security at all Gauteng public hospitals will be reviewed, said the province's health department on Tuesday, after the alleged rape of a terminally ill woman in her hospital bed at Academic Hospital.

The 65-year-old patient's subsequent death was probably more to be blamed on her illness - ovarian cancer - than the attack by a 30-year-old Mozambican man, said the department.

Gauteng health MEC Gwen Ramakgopa said: "We are distressed and outraged by this incident.

"After the management of the hospital toured this and other wards, they put into place a plan to intensify security throughout the hospital, especially at night."

Expressing "shock and regret" at the incident, Ramakgopa conveyed her sympathy to the woman's family. She was confident the attacker would be appropriately punished.

The man arrested by guards and handed over to the police after being caught fleeing is expected to appear in Pretoria magistrate's court on Wednesday.

40 entrances and exits

Departmental spokesperson Popo Maja said it was difficult to guard the perimeter of the hospital because of its layout and size - with more than 40 entrances and exits.

Until now, only the guarded main entrances of the emergency units and maternity hospital had been left unlocked after 19:00 and security staff had done foot, car and bicycle patrols.

These would be intensified and a security sweep implemented at 20:30, after the evening visiting hour, to help clear out visitors.

Those without a staff identity card and a credible explanation for their presence would be escorted off the premises.

Maja said hospital management was also revamping a security campaign involving the reporting of strangers and any suspicious or unusual occurrences on the premises.

The department remains convinced that, although an attempt was made to rape the woman, she had not been raped.

Considering a post-mortem

It was consulting her family about doing a post-mortem to establish the cause of her death, he said.

Nurses on duty in her ward and a counsellor from the Medico-Legal Crisis Centre had indicated the woman told them she had not been penetrated.

In addition, a gynaecologist who examined her immediately after the incident, reported no signs of penetration and no genital or extra-genital injuries.

Maja said: "The cause of death is most probably due to her original illness as she was very ill when this unfortunate incident happened."

- SAPA