UDM deputy president and MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa has accused the Eastern Cape health department and its workers of negligence after his aunt’s death.

In a heart-wrenching letter written to premier Oscar Mabuyane on May 6, detailing what he said his aunt had endured trying to access health care, Kwankwa said he had informed health MEC Sindiswa Gomba about the situation after his aunt died on Tuesday.

She had been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

“I write this letter not only because of my family’s personal tragedy and unbearable experience at the hands of some Eastern Cape health workers, but also because our experience concerns potentially thousands of South Africans and has an impact on the spread of the coronavirus in the Eastern Cape,” he said.

In his letter, Kwankwa painted a horrific picture of how his sickly aunt, carried by her son, was sent from Grey Provincial Hospital in King William’s Town, to Bhisho Provincial Hospital and later SS Gida Hospital in Keiskammahoek.

“On 3 May, 2020, in the early morning, my aunt severely struggled to breathe and a gracious neighbour took her to Dimbaza clinic, from where she was referred and admitted to SS Gida Hospital in Keiskammahoek where she was placed in isolation. She was left to die on her own on 5 May 2020.

“As a family we are sad, but we are angry too, as we were sent from pillar to post by what seems an incompetent Eastern Cape health care system, which resulted in my aunt paying with her life. The poor level of treatment at Grey Provincial Hospital and Bhisho Provincial Hospital’s refusal to treat my aunt leaves much to be desired. They dropped the ball and it had fatal consequences,” he wrote.

Kwankwa said he was not convinced that the necessary interventions were made, and precautionary measures taken.

He said there were concerns his aunt had contracted Covid-19 and that there was ample opportunity for her to pass it to those about her, including her son who worked at a King William's Town mall.

“If he possibly contracted the coronavirus from his mother, the impact of his interaction with staff members and the public is cause for serious concern. He could inadvertently be a node for the wildfire spread of Covid-19 in King William’s Town.

“I would humbly suggest that the shopping centre’s management be contacted as soon as possible so that they may test their staff for Covid-19 and rush to take other precautionary measures needed.”

Kwankwa, also the UDM's chief whip in parliament, said his family had planned to bury his aunt on Thursday but her body would not be released to the family pending the results of a Covid-19 test she had taken on May 3.

Kwankwa urged Mabuyane to conduct an investigation and make the report public.

Mabuyane's spokesperson Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha said the premier will release a statement shortly.