A King Edward VIII Hospital employee died on the operating table from gunshot wounds, after a co-worker opened fired on him.
|||Durban - A King Edward VIII Hospital employee has died on the operating table after being shot, allegedly by a co-worker.
Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo briefed the media, without giving details of what happened, and read out a statement.
“We send our deepest condolences to the family,” Dhlomo said.
“The matter will follow our own internal processes and will also be a matter for the police.”
Dhlomo, reading from a statement, said that the Health Department was not sure about the circumstances of the death of the unnamed hospital employee.
He said that the name of the accused would also not be released.
Seated in the hospital’s boardroom, Dhlomo, with spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi, told the media that no questions would be taken, but that information would be made available later.
Despite his instructions, questions were asked, including whether the hospital’s security staff had searched those who entered the premises for weapons and whether the shooting was the result of a dispute between a disgruntled employee and a member of the human resources staff.
Both questions went unanswered.
Access to the hospital was restricted before Dhlomo’s arrival, with the media and some visitors being kept out while the police examined the crime scene.
A police spokesman, Thulani Zwane, said that a case had been opened, and that the shooting had taken place at 9am, when a “50-year-old was shot in his office”.
“The motive is unknown at this stage,” said Zwane. He said no arrests had been made.
In May at the Westville Hospital, a man, Bongani Shange, took two canteen staff members hostage.
Shange was eventually shot dead by the police.
After the four-hour stand-off, the South African Medical Association called for tighter security measures at hospitals.
The Mercury