KZN health department launches urgent probe after viral video shows assault of boy, 13, at Ladysmith Hospital

• The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has initiated an urgent investigation into the assault of a minor at the Ladysmith Hospital.
• A viral video of two security guards assaulting a 13-year-old boy in his hospital bed prompted the department to intervene. 
• The guards involved were immediately dismissed by their contracted security company.

The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has launched an urgent probe after a video emerged of two security guards assaulting a 13-year-old boy at the Ladysmith Hospital. 

The department on Sunday said the viral video showed the patient being assaulted in his hospital bed. 

The department confirmed that the guards involved had been dismissed immediately by the security company that was contracted to provide security services at the hospital.

The department also instituted an internal disciplinary process against the nursing staff implicated in the incident.

It is believed that the assault took place on Thursday evening and was brought to the attention of hospital management on Friday.

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The boy shown in the video has a disability and was a resident of a place of shelter before he was admitted to Ladysmith Hospital. He has since been moved to another healthcare facility in Durban.

The video shows the child crying while one of the guards repeatedly beats him. The other guard starts hitting the teen as well. No nurses were seen checking up on the boy or stopping the security guards. 

Departmental spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa said: "As a department, we are shocked and appalled by this incident....MEC Nomagugu Simelane has made it clear that the safety and well-being of our patients are our priority and that their abuse under any circumstances, and in any way, shape or form, will not be accepted."

Maphisa added that the matter has been reported to the police and to the Department of Social Development. 

"We can also confirm that a disciplinary process is under way. This process will look into where the nurses were when the incident took place, who called the security guards, and why the patient was assaulted."