Two months after an inquiry was launched into a rodent attack on babies at a Durban hospital, health authorities are still mystified.
The department of health in KwaZulu-Natal has also decided not to take action against nurses on duty on the night the children were attacked because there was no evidence of negligence on their part.
An independent inquiry by the department of health was completed this week and the report found there was nothing conclusive to show the babies were bitten by rodents, said Department of Health spokesperson Mabel Dlamini.
The investigation took place after Ningi Khomo, Mazwi Mofokeng, Mthandeni Zulu and Nonjabulo Dlamini, who were in King Edward VIII's paediatric ward, were allegedly attacked by rats in February, when the doctor on duty filed a report - stating the injuries to the infants were "suspected rodent bites".
Ningi suffered the worst injuries and had a 5cm by 4cm area chunk taken out of her foot. The others had scratch marks on various parts of their bodies.
Dlamini said that in interviews held with nursing staff, the Department's investigative team were told the mothers were with their babies until midnight.
After that the babies were in the care of five nurses.
The nurses only took tea breaks two at a time, leaving three nurses in the ward.
All of the nurses said they had not seen rats in the ward.
However, one said she had seen rats on a different occasion in the sluice room.
She said there was nothing in the report that showed the nurses were negligent and therefore action would not be taken against them.
Department of Health's secretary Professor Ronald Green-Thompson said he had no answers to what had caused the injury to the babies.
"I really don't know. The report said there was inconclusive evidence to show rodents had attacked the babies but I don't know what did."
He said the medical staff said they had not seen rats in the wards, although he admitted that "rats (had) been there (in the hospital) as far back as the 60s". But necessary controls were now in place, he said.
He said plans to rebuild the hospital were "on the agenda".
Ningi's mother could not be reached as she had moved from her home in Cato Manor.
King Edward's Chief Medical Superintendent Dr Sibusiso Mhlambi was not available for comment.
His secretary said he was "too busy" to comment on the findings of the report.
Democratic Party (DP) health spokesman Dr Sandy Kalyan said it was inexcusable that no proper explanation had been provided.
"If it was not rat bites then what was it?
"The public has a right to know. It was clear that those babies were treated for injuries. We need answers," she said.