16042018 (Durban) Aniveshsing Rajbansi appears briefly at the Commercial crime court yesterday on accounts of fraud, he recieved the bail of R10 000. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/ANA
Durban - The first grandchild of the late Amichand Rajbansi, Avineshsing Rajbansi, is fighting for his life in hospital.
The 30-year-old, who is an awaiting-trial prisoner at Westville Prison, suffered seizures on September 26. After two days, prison authorities moved him to King Edward VIII Hospital.
But for two weeks, they failed to inform the Rajbansi family, despite Avineshsing being admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
On Tuesday morning when the family tried to move him to a private facility, Westville Prison officials demanded R145 000 from them to cover the costs of a guard being stationed at the hospital. This was equivalent to R4 800 a day for 30 days.
According to several sources, Avineshsing is unable to speak or eat by himself. He is dependent on oxygen to survive. Despite his condition, he is restrained in leg chains.
Avineshsing was scheduled to appear in court last Friday on charges of fraud amounting to R500 000, but he failed to make an appearance. No mention was made of his illness in court.
His attorney, Rajesh Singh, said he was shocked when he was told on Monday evening of Avineshsing’s condition.
“There have been various instances where clients are not brought to court due to the Covid-19 pandemic and when he did not arrive I did not think there was cause for concern.”
He confirmed that Avineshsing’s condition was critical and attempts were being made to move him to a private hospital.
“He is not conscious. We do not know how he ended up this way. We are trying to get a private doctor to assess him to find out what caused this.We are looking into the matter.”
He said he had spoken to Avineshsing on three occasions since March, when he took over the case, and he seemed fine. “He didn’t have any complaints. He was his usual self.”
Advocate Reshma Athmaram, who is the advocate on record, said: “We were meant to handle his plea agreement on Friday but he was not brought to court. It did not raise any alarm bells as this sort of thing happens all the time.
“It was only on Monday night that I found out. This was when Singh called me to discuss bringing an urgent application in the high court to have Avineshsing moved to a private hospital.
Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi, who is Amichand Rajbansi’s widow, and now the leader of the party he formed, the Minority Front, said: “We are extremely upset that the department waited two weeks before informing us. They should have done the right thing and notified his mother as soon as he took ill.”
Thakur-Rajbansi said prison officials also erred by not taking Avineshsing to a private hospital.
“He has private medical aid, why take him to a government hospital?”
She said she also wanted answers as to how Avineshsing’s health had deteriorated so quickly.
“This child was absolutely fit. He had no history of any chronic conditions and was not on any medication. He was a fitness fanatic. He played cricket and took care of his health.”
She said this was the first time she had heard of him experiencing seizures.
“He was never epileptic and never sick to the point that he would have seizures. As someone who has a background in pharmacy, I know pneumonia or a high fever normally leads to one. But even if he developed flu symptoms, we should have been informed. It is sheer negligence that we were not.”
She said Avineshsing was moved from ICU to a general ward to make space for Covid-19 patients.
“He is on oxygen and a number of drips. We are trying to move him to StAugustine’s Hospital to get him the care he needs.”
Thakur-Rajbansi said they had laid a formal complaint with the regional Department of Correctional Services.
Thulani Mdluli, spokesperson for the KZN Department of Correctional Services (DCS), said Avineshsing was admitted to King Edward VIII Hospital on September28 after he was examined at the prison’s hospital for an illness he was unable to divulge as per the patients’ rights charter.
“Our professional nursing staff contacted the family on numerous occasions to no avail up until he was supposed to appear in court on October 9 - then the family responded.”
Mdluli said on October 12, the family called complaining that the prison should have taken Avineshsing to a private hospital.
“Again it was explained to them as to how the procedure works. The Correctional Services Act makes provision for private hospitalisation of an offender on the basic condition that the family will incur all necessary costs, including guarding of an offender.
“The inmate was referred to the DCS by a court of law to be guarded until he is released. Therefore in terms of the costing, it was done as per the request which was received from his mother to have him moved to a private health care for 30 days.”
Mdluli said the department explained to the family that Avineshsing had to be guarded by correctional officials for three shifts a day, with transportation costs.
“This is calculated at R4839.74 per day multiplied by 30 days, which equals R145 192.20 in total.”
He said there could not be a situation where taxpayers’ money was incurred in private hospitalisation of offenders while the government had made such provisions for treatment in public hospitals.
“Unfortunately, the Department of Correctional Services is obliged to follow legislations and procedures in place guided by the Constitution of the country.”
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