Another maggots scandal rocks RK Khan Hospital
|Published
Eric Nsibande shows the maggots on his arm. Picture: Supplied Eric Nsibande shows the maggots on his arm. Picture: Supplied
Durban - Maggots have been found crawling on the body of a second patient from RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth.
Months after dozens of maggots were found wriggling in the mouth of a patient, another man has found maggots emerging from an open wound on his arm.
Eric Nsibande, 54, of Welbedacht East, has now asked to be discharged after a nurse and a doctor accused him of contracting the maggots at his home and not at the state facility.
He has lodged a complaint with the hospital’s management.
He said that in 2017 he was attacked by men in Tranquil Street, Chatsworth. He went to RK Khan Hospital where he underwent an elbow operation in which two wires were inserted to help the injury heal.
Last November, the wires were removed but Nsibande claimed the wound continued to bleed.
“My wife used to clean the wound but it did not dry. I returned to the hospital in December. I told the doctor I believed there was still a piece of wire in my arm. I was told to return on January 20.”
His arm was X-rayed but there were allegedly no signs of wire.
Nsibande remained doubtful and was told to return to the hospital on February 5. “I was admitted and they opened the wound.”
He claimed he was placed on a drip for two days and the nurses refused to clean or bandage the wound as the doctor had allegedly not instructed them to do so.
During his stay he said he was given pass-outs to visit his family.
“On February 22, I was in pain. It felt as if something was in my arm. Before I took the pass-out to go home, I placed an ice pack on my arm and left the hospital just after 11am.
“At 12.45pm, I was watching TV with my grandson. All of a sudden, he ran to tell my wife there were worms on my hand. She saw two big live maggots around the wound.”
He said his son photographed his arm, applied an antibiotic and bandaged the area.
He returned to the hospital later the same day.
“The nurse said if the wound was left open, a fly could infect it. So, I kept my arm bandaged. That night, I was in pain again. Another patient who was in the ward with me told me to remove the bandage as it could be too tight. He then told me he saw something moving on my arm.”
Nsibande said he was unable to see the wound, and a fellow patient took a photograph.
“There were three maggots this time.”
He said a nurse was informed and she cleaned the wound.
“She wanted to know why I showed my arm to other patients and then told me to keep quiet. The nurse was rude and said I brought the maggots from home.”
Nsibande said the doctor who treated him repeated the accusation.
“Because things were getting heated, I asked the doctor to stop my treatment and send me home as I did not want him treating me while he was angry.
“They left my wound open for weeks and when the maggots came, they blamed me.
“They never gave me bandages or anything to clean my wound.
“Up to today, my wound is open and it bleeds.”
Last week, Nsibande sought help from Anoop Rampersad, a Ward 77 councillor.
“It’s still bleeding and he is using his hard-earned money to buy antibiotics and bandages to treat himself.”
Rampersad said the maggots were too big to have formed in less than two hours.
He said maggots were found in another patient’s mouth in 2019.
The family of that patient, Sadek Ebrahim, who has since died, are currently in the process of suing the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health for R11million for negligence.
“The staff seem as if they are happy to blame the patients. How can two people from two areas pick up maggots on their own?
“The hospital needs to stop the blame game and take ownership,” said Rampersad who has helped Nsibande submit the formal complaint to the hospital.
Dr Terry Olckers, an entomologist and senior lecturer at UKZN, said that it was unusual to find maggots on flesh wounds but it could occur.
“When you find them in humans it’s called accidental myiasis because the fly could have sat on the wound or accidentally been ingested.”
He said from Nsibande’s photo it seemed as if the maggots were in the later stages of development.
“It would have taken at least
1-2 days to develop to that size after the eggs were laid by the adult flies.
“While it is difficult to determine the identity of the flies (because all maggots look more or less the same), these could be the larvae of blowflies or flesh flies, but my guess would be blowflies.”
Spokesperson for the Department, Ms Noluthando Nkosi, said “The Department acknowledges the query. However it cannot comment at the moment since the newspaper did not provide sufficient information and the patient was not reachable.
“However, the Department is looking into this matter.”