Patient commits suicide
An Angolan man committed suicide in a Windhoek state hospital after undergoing heart surgery.
Nurses and doctors at the Windhoek Central Hospital were shocked when a 39-year-old Angolan patient committed suicide in the cardiac ward last week.
The health ministry confirmed that the incident took place on 11 October and that the man had been recovering from a complex cardiac procedure that was done on 2 October.
The patient was found hanging in the bathroom.
“The gentleman was initially admitted to the Oshakati hospital for heart problems and then referred to us. He received multiple-valve-replacement surgery, and he was actually recovering well when he took his life. He was up and about,” the hospital's chief medical superintendent, Dr Dawid Uirab, said yesterday.
Uirab said there had been no indications that the patient was suicidal.
“Nobody saw this coming. When the sisters didn't find him in the ward, they started searching for him, and found him in the bathroom. It was a total shock.”
He said he was informed that the patient had “kept on saying he wants to go back home, but the nurses and doctors explained that he had not recovered sufficiently after such a big operation to return home”.
Uirab said the hospital was considering offering counselling to some staff who suffered a big shock. The family of the deceased have been informed of his death.
JANA-MARI SMITH
The health ministry confirmed that the incident took place on 11 October and that the man had been recovering from a complex cardiac procedure that was done on 2 October.
The patient was found hanging in the bathroom.
“The gentleman was initially admitted to the Oshakati hospital for heart problems and then referred to us. He received multiple-valve-replacement surgery, and he was actually recovering well when he took his life. He was up and about,” the hospital's chief medical superintendent, Dr Dawid Uirab, said yesterday.
Uirab said there had been no indications that the patient was suicidal.
“Nobody saw this coming. When the sisters didn't find him in the ward, they started searching for him, and found him in the bathroom. It was a total shock.”
He said he was informed that the patient had “kept on saying he wants to go back home, but the nurses and doctors explained that he had not recovered sufficiently after such a big operation to return home”.
Uirab said the hospital was considering offering counselling to some staff who suffered a big shock. The family of the deceased have been informed of his death.
JANA-MARI SMITH
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