Allegedly became extremely aggressive at home.
|||Police are investigating a case of murder after a patient admitted for psychiatric observation allegedly killed another patient at the RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth.
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health spokesman, Chris Maxon, confirmed the incident, which happened on Sunday, and said police were investigating a case of murder.
The psychiatric patient was discharged from hospital on Thursday and taken into custody by police for questioning.
He was placed under psychiatric observation at the hospital on Saturday after he allegedly became extremely aggressive at home.
Maxon said the identity of the dead patient was unknown. The victim, believed to be in his mid fifties was unconcious when he was admitted to the hospital last week, having been brought there by ambulance.
Details of what had happened to him or where he was found are unknown.
The hospital is appointing an independent senior health official to head the investigative task team, said Maxon.
This comes after questions were raised about why the patient was kept in the same locked cubicle as the psychiatric patient.
Maxon said suspected mental patients were kept in isolation wards for up to 72 hours for observation. This, he said, was hospital protocol.
Police spokesman, Colonel Vincent Mdunge, said the victim had been discharged from the hospital hours before he had been killed.
However, because his identity was still unknown, family or friends could not be traced to fetch him.
He was then kept at the hospital.
Admitted
Mdunge said another patient had been admitted for psychiatric observation on Saturday and was kept sedated in a semi-private side ward within the psychiatric ward.
He said that on Sunday, the discharged patient was allegedly found in the psychiatric ward experiencing breathing difficulties and had a deep laceration to his ear and several fractured ribs.
He was attended to by doctors, but subsequently died of his injuries, Mdunge said.
He confirmed that a 30-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the incident.