News

South Africa Puts Synagogue’s Survivors On Lockdown

Published

10 years ago

September 24, 2014

None of the 25 injured South Africans, who survived a building collapse in Nigeria, have been discharged from hospital yet, the health department said on Wednesday.
“All of them are still in hospital,” spokesperson Joe Maila said.
He could not answer questions about those in lockdown as he was unaware of it.
“I don’t know about that, what does that mean. I don’t know if doctors will be able to speak on the record of patients.”
On Monday, Deputy Social Development Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu told reporters in Pretoria that the 25 patients were under a 48-hour lockdown.
“Everybody coming out of Lagos is on a 48-hour lockdown. They can’t leave the hospital until the 48 hours are over,” she said at the time.
“Irrespective of the injury, all patients are going to be here for 48 hours. You know that there are a lot of airborne diseases in West Africa at this stage. They need to be fully decontaminated.”
The families of the injured were allowed around five minutes to see them when they arrived in South Africa on Monday.
Social development department spokesperson Lumka Oliphant could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
The SABC this week reported that 10 of the injured had undergone surgery on Monday night as most of them had sustained fractures.
Maila could not confirm this on Tuesday.
Around 115 people, among them 84 South Africans, were killed and dozens trapped when the multi-storey guesthouse attached to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, run by Nigerian preacher TB Joshua, collapsed on Friday, 12 September.
About 350 South Africans were thought to be visiting the church in Lagos when the building came down.