A nurse and driver are at the centre of investigations after a patient fell from a moving ambulance.
Speaking to the Telegraph this week, the station commander of Debete Police Station said that his station is investigating an incident in which a woman, suspected to be a psychiatric patient, fell from a moving ambulance near Atisia village in Kgatleng District.
The Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital, on the other hand, says it is not that common for patients to easily jump out of a moving ambulance. They are, however, worried about the long distances that the patients have to travel to access the one psychiatric hospital. He explained that sometime last week, a patient, who was from Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital in Lobatse, allegedly became violent and overpowered the nurse who was monitoring her then jumped out of the moving ambulance.
He said the ambulance was not moving at a high speed and the driver slowed down after he heard suspicious noise.
The patient survived with minor injuries.
“After we have completed our investigations, we will be in a better position to say whether or not we will press charges or not; that will be revealed by the outcome of the investigation,” he said. However, Dr Mpho Thula, of Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital, said, “It is our concern is that psychiatric patients sometime travel long distances to Lobatse and this can be risky to patients.”
He gave the example of psychiatric patients being transported from as far as Shakawe to Lobatse by road and said it too long a distance, and added that because of lack of resources, there is nothing they can do.