Western Cape Health has suspended all ties with the locum agency that provided a doctor who has been arrested on suspicion of raping a patient.
A Cape Times report says that doctor, employed in a Nyanga clinic, is 46-years old and the patient 26. She alleges the doctor raped her in his consultation room.
She informed the clinic manager and police were called. He is being held at the Nyanga police station and will appear in court once charged.
The report said Nyanga police spokesperson Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi would not confirm this on Monday night and referred the Cape Times to the provincial spokesperson.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana confirmed that a suspect had been arrested for alleged rape and will appear in court. She would not confirm whether the suspect was a doctor.
The woman’s family said she was still too traumatised to talk about the incident, says aDaily Voice report.
Her 38-year-old sister said the young woman went to the healthcare centre on Monday after complaining of back pain. “She says she went in and explained what was wrong and he told her it might be discharge from a vaginal infection,” she said. “He told her to take off her tights and to lie down before he inserted his fingers into her for an examination. After taking out his fingers, he told her there was definitely some discharge and that he would need to remove it.
“He then told her to breathe in and out, to relax and when she still couldn’t, he told her to imagine she was having sex – a process which was supposed to relax her. When that didn’t work, he apparently started massaging her breast. Afterwards he told her to move and to close her eyes. He then took some cream and put his hand in there again. My sister says she got groggy and the next thing she knew this man was on top of her, raping her.”
The sister said she they are shocked a doctor could do this to his own patient.
“One usually expects rapes to happen while a person is walking alone at night or out at a tavern, not in your doctor’s rooms. We go to these places for help because we cannot afford private doctors but now this has scared us all. Something needs to be done about this, how are we to trust that the doctors in our clinics are not criminals because it’s never the same doctor, they come and go.”
Spokesperson for Western Cape Health Mark van Heever says the doctor in question was employed as a locum (temporary) doctor via an agency. “The department has since suspended all ties with the agency, pending the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
Van Heever is quoted in a News24 report as saying that the woman was getting trauma counselling and the department was helping the police with their investigation.
Cape Times report
Daily Voice report
News24 report