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A 24-year-old woman, who went to Mount Ayliff Hospital in the Eastern Cape to collect her epileptic mediation this week, was allegedly raped by a clinical associate during a consultation.
According to the family, this happened on Thursday morning while other patients were waiting outside the consultation room.
The Eastern Cape health department announced that a 39-year-old clinical associate had since been suspended.
The department said, due to the seriousness of the allegations, action was taken immediately.
According to UN Women, a global champion for women and girls’ rights and empowerment, one in three women experience gender-based violence during their lifetime and more than five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family.
READ: Claire Stephanie Westman | We need more than 16 days to end violence against women and girls
The woman’s 38-year-old sister, who asked not to be named to protect her sibling’s identity, said she was shocked when she got a call from the person who had accompanied her sister to the hospital. She told her to rush to the hospital.
The sister said:
She left her workplace and rushed to the hospital.
“On my way, I called our brother who, by sheer luck, was also in town and we both went to the hospital. When we arrived, they were both sitting outside the pharmacy where she was supposed to collect her medication.
“I could see that something was wrong as she was shaking and [she looked traumatised],” she said.
She asked her sister what was wrong, and she told her that she had been raped by the “doctor” – the clinical associate.
“She told me that she went inside the consultation room and there was a nurse who left to fetch something.
“As soon as she went out, the clinical associate allegedly locked the door. He then told her that she was beautiful, and that they should do something together.
“My sister told him that it would not be possible, as he was married. But he told her that he was not married and she should take off her jeans and bend over,” she said.
READ: ‘He made me drink his urine’
The man then allegedly penetrated the woman from behind and she cried out, telling him that he was hurting her.
“He stopped because the nurse came back and found the door locked,” the sister said. “When she knocked, the doctor immediately helped my sister with her jeans before opening the door. He went back to his desk and pretended to be writing something.”
The family said the matter was immediately reported to the hospital management and a rape case was opened with the police.
“We are not satisfied with the way the police handled the matter and, as a result, we fear for my sister’s life. They failed to arrest him [the clinical associate] even though the incident happened on the hospital premises. Now we are thinking of taking her to a place of safety,” she said.
Eastern Cape health spokesperson Yonela Dekeda said, when the incident was reported, the hospital and district management responded swiftly to support the patient and followed all the medical procedures required in such incidents.
She said:
Dekeda said the victim and her family had been provided with psychosocial support.
Meanwhile, Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth instructed the head of the department to start an urgent internal investigation into the allegations.
“The department condemns the incident and will continue to cooperate with our law enforcement agencies as they investigate and manage the case to its conclusion,” Meth said.
Provincial police spokesperson Majola Nkohli said police were investigating a case of rape: “A woman alleged that on Thursday she was raped by a doctor [clinical associate] in one of the consulting rooms at the Mount Ayliff Hospital. The suspect is known, and his arrest is imminent.”
