Screaming in mental anguish, a man frantically tugs at his restraints. Worn white bandages, wrapped tightly around his wrists, are tied firmly to the stretcher he lies on.

Metres away on another stretcher, a man is bound with a leather restraint to a railing.

In a room off a corridor of Helen Joseph Hospital’s emergency department, lying on two stretchers, two men’s hands are tied with red and white security tape to their hospital beds. ..