Nurse fired for drugging, raping patient
2012-02-03 09:30
A male nurse has been fired for allegedly raping a patient suffering from depression in a Potchefstroom hospital.
“The moral fibre of our society is actually going down,” North West health MEC Magome Masike told SABC radio news.
“We went through a disciplinary process where the man was found guilty and was fired.”
North West police spokesperson Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said the 24-year-old man would appear in the Potchefstroom Magistrates Court on February 16.
“The patient was admitted to the hospital for depression. She was sitting in a TV room when she was called by the male nurse to the linen room,” Ngubane said.
“According to the information received, the victim followed the suspect because she thought he was calling her to give her medicine. It is alleged that the suspect drugged the victim with medicine before raping her.”
The alleged rape happened on January 19.
“The suspect used rubber gloves during the rape and disposed of it in the dustbin,” said Ngubane.
The woman reported the rape to hospital authorities.
The man appeared in court for the first time on January 21 and was released on R1 000 bail.
Masike said the provincial health department had apologised to the woman and the community.
“We believe that hospitals [should be] safe places and we are quite disappointed,” said Masike.
Last month, a male nurse from a Bloemfontein hospital appeared in court on a charge of raping a terminally ill cancer patient. The woman has since died.
In December, KwaZulu-Natal police said they were searching for a male nurse who allegedly raped a mentally ill patient in a shower at Osindisweni hospital in Verulam, north of Durban.
- SAPA