Patient dies in fire at Clairwood hospital

A woman died in a fire at Clairwood Hospital in Durban on Thursday.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health said that the fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning, allegedly after the woman, who was a patient, set herself alight in an isolation ward of the hospital’s Internal Medicine unit. The fire gutted the ward, the department said.

“Sadly, a 41-year-old female patient (died) after reportedly setting herself on fire during the early hours of this morning (Thursday), leading to the destruction of an entire ward,” the department said in a statement.

The department said at least 23 patients from an adjacent ward were safely evacuated and transferred to other available beds within the hospital. There were no other injuries reported.

eThekwini Fire Department divisional commander Justin Bateman told East Coast Radio Newswatch that the fire originated in a single room within the facility and caused significant damage to approximately 20% of the southern section of the building, including the tin roof.

“Evidence suggested that the staff had attempted to put out the fire using extinguishers before the arrival of emergency services,” said Bateman, adding that firefighters successfully contained the fire from spreading further.

In response to the incident, Dr Imran Keeka, the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal Health spokesperson, said the party was saddened by the death of a patient at Clairwood Hospital.

He commended the hospital staff for their efforts in evacuating the patients.

Keeka also raised concerns about the state of KZN’s healthcare infrastructure.

“Many of KZN’s medical facilities require urgent maintenance, and it must be established whether this was a contributing factor to the fire.”

He assured that the DA, as part of the government of provincial unity (GPU), would ensure a full probe into the incident and conduct oversight at Clairwood Hospital in the coming days.

“Our province’s healthcare facilities must look and feel like places of healing,” Keeka stressed. “They cannot continue on a trajectory where people dread going there to get better.”

The KZN Department of Health on Thursday also confirmed two separate road crashes involving its Emergency Medical Services (EMS) vehicles. Both incidents occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

One person died. In the first crash, a bus from the Nakekela Hub in Manguzi overturned near Mbazwana in uMkhanyakude District while transporting 60 patients and two crew members.

The department said the bus hit a stray cow, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

“One patient, who was trapped in the wrecked bus, sadly passed away, while the rest of the passengers and two crew members sustained minor injuries,” the department said. All patients were transferred to eMseleni Hospital.

In the second incident, an EMS vehicle transporting two injured minors from Itshelejuba Hospital to Ngwelezane Hospital overturned after also hitting a stray cow. The department said no injuries were sustained by the staff, patients, or their relatives.

The department expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and extended gratitude to the public for their assistance at the accident scene. The department noted that an investigation into the hospital.

The Mercury