Doctor rejects claims of botched circumcision

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Pretoria - The medical doctor who performed an alleged botched circumcision on 10-year-old boy from Marokolong in Hammanskraal has denied any wrongdoing.

Dr Thabo Lerumo vehemently denied the claims by the boy’s parents and said he would never do anything to jeopardise his career. Parents of children who took longer that the usual seven days to heal should shoulder the blame, he said. “It means the children’s wounds are not being washed properly. I’ve done more than 4000 people since the beginning of this year alone and have a huge reputation to protect. I would never do anything that puts my job on the line,” he said. The parents told the Pretoria News the boy started having problems urinating after undergoing the medical circumcision at Lerumo’s practice and were blaming him for the boy’s woes. The couple, who cannot be named to protect the child, said their son underwent circumcision in the July school holidays. But he has not healed and has been in and out of hospital since then. According to the parents, Lerumo allegedly enlisted the services of other people who were not qualified for the job.

They claim there were other people doing the procedure, including women.

The doctor denied this, saying he alone circumcised the boys, and the nurses merely helped him to bandage them.

The parents claim that Lerumo subsequently went to check on the boy’s progress after two weeks and assured them all was well.

Two days after he gave them the medication, the boy developed a hole near his testicles, from where he now urinated, the parents said.

They said they then took him to hospital, where he was admitted and discharged after a week.

He had been referred to another hospital, and doctors there will only see him on November 2.

Pretoria News