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A male nurse in a Limpopo hospital was arrested after allegedly being caught raping a mentally ill patient.
The incident happened at the Letaba Hospital in NkowaNkowa, near Tzaneen, at about midday on Tuesday.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mohale Ramatseba confirmed yesterday that the 30-year-old nurse was allegedly caught raping the 26-year-old victim.
“Preliminary investigations have so far revealed that the incident happened in one of the hospital’s wards,” he said.
“We have gathered that the other patients were not in the ward when the incident happened. The patients only came in to find the nurse raping the victim.”
Ramatseba said they had instituted investigations to uncover the truth in the matter.
“While we are disturbed about the rape of a patient by a nurse, we also believe security should be tightened at institutions to ensure that no
criminal activities take place,” he said.
“We will, however, go deep in our investigations over the matter.”
Limpopo department of health and social development spokesman Joe Maila said they would follow correct processes to institute disciplinary action against the nurse and allow the law to take its course.
“We condemn the behaviour of our official, especially since the incident happened in one of our institutions,” Maila said.
He said they also hoped that the fact that management reporting the incident would send a clear message to other health officials “that we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in our institutions”.
On Women’s Day (August 9) this year a nurse at the Makahlule Clinic near Malamulele was allegedly raped by a security guard at the institution.
In June 2008 another nurse was raped by thugs at the Sekororo Hospital outside Tzaneen.
