24 October 2024

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health hereby confirms a fatal fire incident at Clairwood Hospital, in which a 41-year-old female patient sadly demised, after reportedly setting herself on fire during the early hours of this morning, leading to the destruction of an entire ward.

The incident occurred in an isolation ward of the hospital's Internal Medicine unit, where the patient ignited the fire. At least 23 patients were safely evacuated from an adjacent ward, which also subsequently caught alight.

They were transferred to other available beds within Clairwood Hospital. The eThekwini Fire Department successfully extinguished the fire, and no other injuries were reported. We can confirm that a full investigation is underway into this incident.

Meanwhile, the Department can also confirm two separate road crashes involving its Emergency Medical Services (EMS) vehicles, which also occurred in the early hours of this morning. In the first incident, a bus from our Nakekela Hub from Manguzi overturned near Mbazwana in uMkhanyakude District while transporting 60 patients and two crew members. The bus had come across a stray cow which it hit before losing control.

One patient who was trapped in the wrecked bus sadly passed away, while the rest of the passengers and two crew members sustained minor injuries and were transported to Mseleni Hospital.

In the second incident, an EMS vehicle transporting two injured minors from Itshelejuba Hospital to Ngwelezane Hospital overturned when it also hit a stray cow. Fortunately, no injuries were sustained by the staff, patients, or their relatives.

EMS personnel in uMkhanyakude assisted with the transportation of patients to Ngwelezane Hospital following the accident.

The Department also expresses gratitude to members of the public who assisted our patients at the accident scene.

The Department wishes to express its heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased.