Nurse to appear for HIV-jab
2005-06-22 14:10
Bushbuckridge - A nurse accused of injecting her four-year-old stepson with HIV-contaminated blood is scheduled to go on trial on charges of attempted murder on Thursday.
The 33-year-old nurse from Matikwane Hospital in Mkhuhlu near Bushbuckridge, Limpopo, was arrested on January 17 last year when the boy told his biological mother that his stepmother had given him an injection.
The case was provisionally withdrawn in the Mhala regional court due to insufficient evidence in November last year, but was reinstated after police followed up new leads.
The boy, who is now six, lives with his biological mother in Songeni village near Thulamahashe and had gone to visit his father and stepmother when the alleged incident took place in late 2003.
"I did not know what the injection was for and my fears grew when his father said he was unaware of the incident," said the boy's mother on Wednesday.
She then took the boy to a doctor who ran tests. The initial round of HIV tests were negative, but three months later, the boy tested positive. She said police asked her to also undergo the test, but that she tested negative.
"My son often gets rashes and I frequently take him to hospital using my own money," said the mother. "No one has ever bothered to care for us."
Provincial department of health and social development spokesperson, Phuti Seloba, advised the mother to approach social workers for help and counselling.