• A 14-year-old paralysed boy died before the KZN health department could make any payments in a medical negligence case.
• The family's lawyer alleges that this was because the department delayed in making an interim payment toward the boy's care.
• The health department has refused to comment on the matter, as it is before the courts.

While the KwaZul-Natal health department allegedly delayed in making an interim payment towards the care of a paralysed 14-year-old boy in a medical negligence case, he died.

Isaac Nkhahle of Kokstad lost his son Kothatso to pneumonia in June.

In April 2018, Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Nkosinathi Chili found the department liable to pay Nkhahle damages.

The judge found that if the child had been correctly diagnosed and treated for bacterial meningitis after his birth, he would not have been completely paralysed.

Nkhahle’s attorney, Richard Donachie, said on Wednesday that this matter has an extremely long history and it was a battle to get it to court. He said that in December last year, a pre-trial conference was convened between the parties involved. What followed was various undertakings by the department to see what they could do regarding the interim payment, he said.

Eventually the department undertook to pay an interim amount of R1 million, but Donachie said that for payment to be effected it had to be signed off by the relevant department officials.

By March, this still had not been done and then came the lockdown, added Donachie. They were told that it was difficult to get the HOD and MEC to sign the necessary documents because of the lockdown, he said.

Payment was never made.

Medical expenses

Donachie said that the money was supposed to have been used to meet the child’s medical and other expenses, saying: 

The death of the child does not end the matter, he said, adding that general damages will still have to be decided upon.

The distraught father, Nkhahle, said there was so much treatment and care his son was denied, because of money.

There was so much more they could have done for him that they didn’t, for instance, taking him for different types of therapy, he said. As a family, they could have also relocated from Kokstad to a city to be closer to a rehabilitation centre.

"We could have also used the money to buy him a special chair, suitable to support his severe condition. He also needed a car for transportation and a proper mattress to support him, as he was bed-ridden."

Nkhahle said it has been a long 14 years for the family, living with a permanently bedridden child. 

He said: 

Department spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa conveyed the department’s condolences to the family.

"However, the department is unable to comment as this is a legal matter. That said, the department has referred this matter to its legal services unit, which will then contact the family and address any concerns they might have."