Message of condolence at the memorial service of Dr Joe Ndlovu by the MEC for Health KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo

Mrs Ndlovu nabantwana
Umndeni wonke wakwaNdlovu
Colleagues from the health fraternity
Bazalwane
All protocol observed

It is with utmost sadness that we converge here today to pay tribute to one of the very few gifted healthcare practitioners that we had in our midst, a specialist psychiatrist.

It is also unfathomable that we may think or even consider that we may have words and means of comforting Mrs Ndlovu and the children on this sudden departure of their loving husband and father. In this hour of darkness, loneliness and loss, we ask you to find light and solace in the book of 2 Corinthians 5: 1 “for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle we dissolve/destroyed, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Dr Ndlovu has been a pillar to many, a guiding hand to his family, to patients, students and his peers. As mere mortals I know, we will never be able to bring comfort and peace to all those that Dr Ndlovu has touched in his personal and professional life. Who will now heal the wounds and scars of so many that had relied on Dr Ndlovu? These are troubled people; people who tell you their story because they trust you! To all his patients we say, please find solace in the good Scriptures of our Lord, particularly in Matthew 11: 28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Losing Dr Ndlovu does not bring us any closer to the realisation of our vision as a province, which is to achieve the optimal health status for all persons in KwaZulu-Natal. The World Health Organisation defines health “as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not just an absence of disease or infirmity”.

We thank the Lord, the Almighty, for giving us Dr Ndlovu, who promoted a notion that every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, without discrimination of any kind.

Dr Ndlovu went further to inculcate in his students the truth that the enjoyment of the human right to health is vital to all aspects of a person's life and well being, and that it is crucial to the realisation of many other fundamental human rights and freedoms.

As we pay homage to this noble man, we should be asking how I can build on from where he left. Our President, Honourable Jacob Zuma says our guiding maxim should be understanding and acceptance of the notion that, working together we can achieve more. Each one of us has a role to play as our people out there require a sustainable, co-ordinated and comprehensive health system encompassing promotive, preventative, curative, rehabilitative and supportive care. In trying to understand and assist humankind, through Gatsheni’s perspective let us all also be guided by the core values that are the rock foundation of the human rights, viz:
* fairness
* respect
* equality
* dignity.

If we accept that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, then let it be our responsibility to take up what Dr Ndlovu, as a psychiatrist, was striving for; that is to make accessible basic mental health care to those in need.

In this regard, as a caring society we have to find ways of helping patients to cope by themselves with their mental health impairments, disabilities and handicaps; that we provide them with care aimed at reducing the impact of their troubles and disorders. Dr Ndlovu has insisted that mental healthcare be of adequate quality.

To his wife, Mrs Ndlovu, and the children, we would like to say, Akuhlanga lungehliyo, bantakwethu. UNkulunkulu abe nani aninike amandla okuqhubeka lapho uBaba egcine khona. Find comfort in the following words of wisdom from the Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God”

May his beautiful soul rest in eternal peace!

Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
3 June 2009
Source: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
(http://www.kznhealth.gov.za/)


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