The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Reporter
A Bulawayo woman has sensationally claimed that she was drugged and allegedly raped by a nurse while undergoing treatment at a local private hospital.
The woman, who cannot be named for ethical reasons said she was still traumatised. She said about two weeks ago while she was being treated at the facility, she was injected with a suspected anaesthetic drug and when she recovered she was feeling dizzy and had semen on her private parts, suspecting that she could have been raped.
She reported the matter to the hospital officials and her family but added that she had not reported the matter to the police as she was being threatened. It took Sunday News a lot of convincing for her and her family to agree to talk.
“It’s a very sensitive issue and my family is really closely guarding the matter but we lodged a complaint with the institution but nothing was done. I have been struggling to live with this.”
A family member told the news screw that the incident happened after relatives had left the hospital.
“She was allegedly raped after we left. Our sister is sure that it was a nurse because she vividly recalls him administering a drug before she passed out. She can only recall a few images from her memory but says that she noticed she had been violated by the discharge from her private parts,” said a family source. The family member said the suspected assault could have happened during the hour-long time when she was sedated.
“She had been administered a drug to relax her and make her sleep and possibly this is when the nurse took advantage of her.
We made a report to the administration who then told us that it was not their concern because there was no evidence,” said the relative.
Asked why they have not helped their relative to report the matter to police, the family members said it was too sensitive and were still trying to see how they could handle the matter. Contacted for a comment, an official at the medical facility said nothing like that happened.
“This is a causality unit. Why has the person not taken it up with higher authorities or the police? Male nurses seldom come and the ward is closely monitored by the sister or matron-in-charge. We only admit people here for 24 hours and then refer them to other hospitals, if a need arises. Therefore it is impossible for someone to make such claims,” said a representative from the hospital.
“As you can see the ward is open and it is impossible for anyone to be violated. There are various medical institutions in this area and whoever this person is may have gotten it wrong. We are not hiding anything, so why don’t you give us the person’s name and we can follow up on the matter,” said the hospital official.
She said the unit only had space to hold up to 14 patients and it was virtually impossible for anyone to be raped there.
