Pretoria – Tembisa Kometsi lost both her legs after contracting gangrene in a state hospital when she was 2 years old. Yesterday 6 year old Tembisa and her twin sister Thembakazi celebrated the court ruling that the family would be paid out R2.8 million in negligence claims from the Gauteng Health Department.
Olof Joubert, the family’s lawyer said, “It was amazing. There were tears. It was really special because the family is in dire circumstances.”
In 2009 Themisa was burnt with boiling water and taken to hospital. It was found that she contracted gangrene due to negligent treatment by hospital staff at the Verre East Rand Hospital. Due to the gangrene her legs had to be amputated.
Around a month ago Themisa did receive prosthetic legs, but the family has up until now been unable to pay for the prosthesis.
Beeld newspaper reported that the twins each hugged a leg of the family’s lawyer, Olof Joubert, after hearing the Judge’s ruling.
Medical Negligence lawsuits have been described by the DA’s Jack Bloom as a plague to the Gauteng Department of Health. In 2010 it was reported that the department of health paid out over R100 million in negligence claims.
Photo: Courtesy Wikimedia
