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'I paid R520 for him to be killed, just that little'

Dudu Busani

Yesterday was supposed to be a big day for three-year-old Chinonso Onyenekwu. He was going to be a big boy just like his brother after the doctors had "cut my pee-pee" as he put it.

The little boy died in the operating theatre at Lester Poly Clinic at Lester Building in Johannesburg shortly after walking in, allegedly after reacting to an injection.

When Sowetan arrived at the hospital, the boy's parents were baying for the doctor's blood. They said the doctor told them that Chinonso was asleep, when in fact he had already died.

"When I noticed it was taking too long for him to come out, I started enquiring, but the doctor told me he was still asleep. I suspected that something was wrong so I called my husband and he was told the same story.

"We only learnt hours later about the death and by then the doctor had disappeared," said the boy's mother Lerato Onyenekwu of Dlamini in Soweto.

Chinonso's father Douglas Onyenekwu believes that doctors were negligent.

"I paid R520 for my son to be killed, just that little. He was healthy when he walked into this hospital but they killed him and ran away.

"We had to call the paramedics who confirmed his death," said the father.

Speaking on behalf of the clinic, Dr Shepard Maphisa, said Chinonso reacted to an injection they used to drug him to sleep.

"This is a devastating situation. The child walked in healthy, we gave him an injection, he reacted and died.

"We noticed there was something wrong and did everything we could.

"We understand that the family is angry and facing them will be even difficult," said Maphisa.

He said the doctor did not disappear but was smuggled out by the police for his own safety.

Police spokesman Captain John Maluleke confirmed the incident.

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