The Free State health department on Thursday condemned the behaviour of patients who were captured on social media platforms helping themselves to alcohol that fell off a jackknifed truck on the N8 on Tuesday.
The department said the patients using the government’s planned patient transport were en route from Dr JS Moroka Hospital in Thaba Nchu to Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital in Bloemfontein for specialist care.
“It is unimaginable that a person who is supposedly sick would suddenly be fit enough to pick up alcoholic beverages strewn on the road and, worst of all, have the audacity to load them into a state vehicle that is meant to ferry patients to a health facility,” said health department spokesperson Mondli Mvambi.
Mvambi said the department’s preliminary investigation revealed that the driver was focused on the traffic ahead as the vehicle had stopped at the road closure caused by the jackknifed truck.
“That is when the patients opened the door and started helping themselves to liquor.
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