Durban - The chief executive of RK Khan Hospital, Dr Prakash Subban, has been removed from his post after an investigation into the death there of a patient whose relatives found maggots in his mouth.
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said: “As the department we visited the hospital to find out what happened first-hand, and to speak to the people responsible for the management of the hospital.”
The MEC visited the hospital on Tuesday. After speaking to its management, it was decided to redeploy Subban to St Aidan’s Hospital in Greyville.
He will be replaced by Nqobile Mkhwanazi, the current chief executive of Queen Nandi Regional Hospital.
The department said Mkhwanazi would be at the post indefinitely, until they were satisfied with the running of the hospital.
The MEC said the decision to remove Subban was not isolated to one incident but to a series of events stretching back over a year.
“The department instructed the management to implement a number of interventions to turn the hospital around. But not all of those instructions have been implemented.”
The department did not specify which interventions Subban had failed to implement.
However, the Daily News has previously reported on a number of issues that have plagued the hospital, including nurse negligence, botched surgeries, unsanitary conditions and vervet monkeys accessing the hospital.
The department said they would not publicly release their investigation report because it was confidential.
Sadek Ebrahim, 52, of Chatsworth, died on July 3 of natural causes.
His son, Azaad Ebrahim, said he bore no ill-will towards Subban but just wanted answers on his father’s death.
“But he pushed me aside. If he had just given me the answers I needed, I would not have gone to social media and created this whole thing,” he said.
Ebrahim said he wanted to start legal proceedings against the hospital but could not afford it.
Dr Imran Keeka, DA MPL, said he thought Subban was doing a very good job under difficult circumstances.
Keeka said the DA intended to formally request the investigation report from the Health Department in the provincial legislature.