Nkosi, who was tried and imprisoned for suspected terrorism activities on Robben Island with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in 1977, died after undergoing surgery in 2008 at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital.

The inquest - presided over by Johannesburg magistrate Danie van der Berg - heard that Nkosi underwent elective spinal surgery between 9pm and 9.30pm on July 22 but died shortly after midnight.

According to evidence in court, Nkosi grew restless at around 23.45pm, complaining that he was finding it difficult to breathe.

But, nurses monitoring him only informed doctors of the patient's deteriorating health much later. A doctor only arrived 19 minutes later to resuscitate Nkosi.

Lawyers for one of the doctors, Steven Farrell, said the quality of nursing on that day was "catastrophic" and that a 19-minute window of opportunity to save Nkosi's life was "squandered".

"From a nursing perspective, he (Nkosi) was not properly monitored," Farrell put it to forensic pathologist Dr Hestelle Nel. Nel agreed before adding that she could not accept the nurse's notes as "correct post-operative monitoring" because she could not make out what the nurse - known only as Tshabalala - was recording. Farrell called the nurse's notes "woeful".

Nel again called into question the nurses' monitoring of Nkosi, noting that they should have realised his respiratory rate had jumped to 37 - the normal rate being 12.

She also said increased swelling around Nkosi's neck should have also been a sign that "something should be done". Nkosi suffered from brain swelling because of a lack of oxygen, which caused increased blood flow into the arteries.

The hearing continues.

Comments

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Sat May 25 10:53:29 SAST 2013 ::

Jan 24, 2012

MommaC

Doc Aaron,
Stop harping on about NHI and medical aids and GET YOUR STAFF SORTED. Once you actually have a few hospitals that are not slaughter houses then you can politic to your heart's content. Until then, get the basics right.
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Jan 24, 2012

candilious

@Morning MommaC- you are spot on can't call them hospitals anymore Slaughterhouses iscorrect
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Jan 24, 2012

MommaC

Hi Canilous,

I really like Doc Aaron. I think he is one of the few with his head on straight but this is just getting beyond pathetic now. Doctors who are practising but have been disbarred, brain surgeons who are not qualified, children being disabled because nurses don't care ..... and that is just in the past two weeks. He has to make it a priority to slap his whole portfolio into some kind of shape.
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Jan 24, 2012

MorenaWaPolelo

Mara what is happening is this the year of the Hospitals every bloody day the Hospital kills people. Is the any one out there who can do something about this....yesses guys if you Medical Aid please hold on to them because it seems like health care is more worse than when Manto (may her sole rest in peace) was in charge!
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Jan 24, 2012

Sinudeity

MommaC - Yeah, we've seen with the education system, that pumping more money into it aint gonna fix the problem. Why should we pay more for NHI, when our hospitals are crap?
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Jan 24, 2012

Archibald.Delaware

Such stories will become far more common after the NHI is introduced.People who cannot afford both NHI taxes and medical aid will be forced to seek medical care in state hospitals such as these. Anyone with 2 brain cells knows the NHI will never work - there are far too few doctors and nurses and the tax base is too small. The crooked ANC politicians know this very well, but they they will fight tooth and nail for the NHI because they know the potential juicy tenders that will "become available" to them and their friends.
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Jan 24, 2012

sekhebereshe

public hospital or private they are all the same...some time in december 2011 i was admitted at a private hospital around 5pm but only attend to at 9pm....pathetic.
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Jan 24, 2012

BaleliM

You walk into a public hospital and all you smell is death. The nurses have attitudes and they do not care about the patients because nursing is a job for them rather than a passion for saving lives.
NHI will bring more havoc to the already detoriating health system.
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Jan 24, 2012

LaVidaLoca

That freakin hospital dignosed me with menengities in 2006, which i didnt even have, they pumped all sorts of meds into my system until I was fat as hell.......i went to get a second opinion at another doctor and i was told that i didnt have the damn virus to begin with......

That's a slaughter house, My w!fe gave birth at that hell hole too and the entire time I was scared, i couldnt wait to get her and my baby out of there.....
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Jan 24, 2012

Mtho'eng'nanqondo

Rest in Peace Comrade Stan Nkosi.....idabi lakho uligqibile, kudala uzabala! Uthi wawuzobona nje ontamolukhuni laba abaphawulayo ngosizo olithole ezibhedlela eza moshwa yibo, bathi lenhlangano owazinikela kuyo, wathixelwa entolongweni ngayo iyaphoxa? *sigh*...sizakuqhubela lapho ogcine khona.

Powers should be decentralised its high time now, infact that should have been done a long time ago. Give Hospital CEO's real powers to run the institutions. Supply Chain should be moved from Province to each tertiary and secondary hospital, that goes for hiring and firing. We should also de-unionise the health care. It cant be possible that when health workers are in need, they iether in some training or political meeting.

Much has to be done with giving primary health care teeth. Its mandade should extend beyond SIT's and Pregnancy........
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