Investigations are still underway to determine the cause of the fire that led to the death of a patient at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in February.
On the evening of February 18, a 39-year-old patient died following a fire at the hospital. Due to the patient’s health, he was isolated.
It was alleged that during visiting hours, the patient ignited a cigarette lighter while near an oxygen mask that he was wearing, which was connected to the oxygen main line, which led to a fire which was contained in his single-bed cubicle.
The patient sustained severe burns and succumbed to his injuries. No other patients or staff members were injured in the incident.
Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital senior medical manager Dr Myint Aung said there was confusion over what the patient was admitted for because he died in an isolation ward. There was the belief that the patient was a psychology patient.
Dr Aung made this revelation when answering questions from the parliamentary portfolio committee on health during an oversight visit to the hospital on Thursday.
Dr Aung said the patient was not a mental health care user but was placed in the isolation ward due to his health condition.
“The patient was moving around wards without a mask on until a request was made, hence the restraints, leading to the assumption he was a mental health patient,” Dr Aung explained.
“It is suspected he was smoking, but investigations are still underway.”
This revelation arose after Dr Aung shared a presentation with the committee and briefly discussed some of the hospital’s infrastructure challenges.
He said the fire detection system is not compliant.
However, returning to the fire, Dr Aung said the water sprinkler system worked, but the smoke detectors were not working.
The department said it initiated an investigation into the fire in addition to the ongoing investigation by the police.
At the time, the department said fire detection and water sprinklers also kicked in and augmented in extinguishing the fire.