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The aggressive troop of vervet monkeys have put the RK Khan Hospital in Durban, South Africa, under near siege after entering at will through open windows.

In a video taken by a horrified visitor, over half a dozen of the animal are seen climbing over the hospital bed curtain rails, roaming underneath bedridden patients and even jumping on to dinner tables.

The unnamed woman can be heard trying to scare the monkeys away by shouting at them.

Some reports even state the animals have infiltrated the kitchen on site.

The primates took over the hospital after it was built on the land they naturally inhabited, social media posts claim.

Plots of the remaining forest have been cut down by locals who have put up new housing, they include.

In an act of trying to reclaim the land, they climb through windows on the hospital wards that kept open due to the lack of air conditioning.

Other witnesses have claimed that as many as 20 monkeys can by in the wards at any one time.

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said he was extremely concerned and decided to take immediate action after watching a video on social media showing the vervets roaming freely through a ward full of patients.

At a press conference called at the RK Khan Hospital, he said: “We must find an immediate solution and I no longer want to see monkeys in the premises.

(Image: YOUTUBE)

“I do not want to see the monkeys in the wards where there are vulnerable patients as it is a very dangerous scene and it also brings with it, of course, health risks to the patients”

The primates can carry diseases including TB, yellow fever and hepatitis and are compromising the sterile environment in the hospital as well as interfering with drips attached to patients

A task team consisting of a state vet, health & biodiversity and environmental experts has been set up but so far they have not come up with a solution to keep the wards monkey free.

One person said: “My daughter had first-hand experience of this with monkeys stealing her breakfast in the RK Khan but even though we tried we were not allowed to film it by staff”.

(Image: GETTY)

One lady who visits her sick mother and has requested to remain anonymous said: “The monkeys can seem very cute but they are in there to steal what food they can grab.

“There can have very aggressive fights over food and they can accidentally knock out IV drips.

“I have seen patients very scared and getting under their bed covers to hide from them.

“It has been going on for three or four months now and nothing is being done”.

Last month a monkey hit the headlines after it kidnapped a baby so it had someone to play with.