Child rape: Doctor faces probe

2004-12-06 18:25

Matatiele - An investigation has been ordered into an Eastern Cape doctor's apparent refusal to treat a two-year-old rape victim on Saturday.

The Eastern Cape health department's superintendent-general had appointed a team of investigators to probe the incident and make recommendations, said spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo on Monday.

It was expected the investigation would last at least two weeks with statements to be taken from all nurses on duty at Mount Fletcher's Tailor Dequest Hospital that day, he said.

According to police, the two-year-old was alone at her family's home outside Mount Fletcher on Saturday afternoon, when a 16-year-old walked in through an unlocked door and allegedly raped her.

It is alleged he was caught in the act by the child's mother and arrested.

Her family took her to Tailor Dequest Hospital - the only one in the area with a district surgeon - but were turned away and told to go instead to Matatiele Hospital 70km away.

Taken by helicopter for counselling

She and her mother were eventually flown to Umtata General Hospital where she was seen by a forensic pathologist.

The girl was not admitted, but was placed on a course of antiretroviral therapy.

Mother and child were taken by helicopter to the hospital again on Monday for psychological help, said Eastern Cape health MEC Bevan Goqwana.

Goqwana said that, whatever the conditions doctors found themselves working under, they had an ethical responsibility to see somebody brought to them.

"We cannot allow a situation where a doctor leaves a patient to fight his or her own battles."

He pointed out that in this case, however, authorities did not yet know the full facts.

Teenager appears in court

It appeared nurses had said the hospital was not accepting rape cases, he said.

Should it be found it was the doctor who refused to treat the child, he would face an inter-departmental disciplinary hearing and independent disciplinary action through the Health Professionals' Council of SA.

The teenager accused of raping the toddler appeared briefly in Mount Fletcher magistrate's court on Monday.

He was not asked to plead and the case was postponed until Friday, said inspector Ursula Roelofse of Eastern Cape police. The teenager would remain in custody.

- SAPA