The Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape has called for an urgent probe into what it said was the clear failure of hospital staff to assist a vulnerable patient who had fallen off his bed at Livingstone Hospital's oncology ward.
DA MPL, Celeste Barker, says the incident happened on Tuesday night while the family of the patient had been visiting.
She says instead of assisting the patient, ward staff allegedly confiscated the phone used to take several pictures of the patient showing his face covered in blood.
Barker says the reaction of the ward staff and their failure to assist a vulnerable patient constituted a breach of medical ethics.
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, says the incident was unfortunate.
He says the patient was discovered on the floor with blood on his face and was immediately attended to and helped back into his bed. He was assessed by a doctor who only found old lacerations on his face.
Kupelo says they, therefore, dismiss claims that the patient was not attended to.
