'Doctors are all on holiday'

2008-01-10 07:40

Sydney Masinga

Middelburg - An Mpumalanga patient was told that not a single doctor will be on duty at Middelburg hospital until January 18 because they are all still on holiday.

William Phasoane, 63, of Mhluzi township went to the hospital last week because he was in pain and unable to urinate because of prostate problems.

He said he was admitted for two days but was not attended to by a doctor because all the doctors were on holiday.

"I was told to come back to the hospital on January 18 because that is when doctors are going to come back from holiday. I was not even given painkillers by the cheeky nurses. This is seriously frustrating and not fair to us as taxpayers and general citizens of this country," said Phasoane on Wednesday.

He said he was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday last week.

"I was discharged with a catheter (tube inserted into his penis to enable him to urinate) still attached," he said.

Surgery in Pretoria

Phasoane said his employers had arranged for him to go for surgery in Pretoria on Thursday.

"I am going to Pretoria for an operation thanks to my caring employers," he said. "I am completely disappointed with the treatment I received at the Middelburg hospital, but most of all I am disappointed with the Mpumalanga Health Department. I wonder if the MEC knows that doctors are only going to be available after January 18 at the hospital?"

He said his employers were also trying to organise a social security grant for him as they believed he was no longer able to work because of his condition.

"But we have to wait for the doctors to return to the hospital so that the forms can be signed," he said.

Spokesperson for the Christian Party in the province, Gerhard Reeder, said the party learnt of Phasoane's circumstances on Monday and immediately wrote a letter to Health and Social Development MEC William Lubisi asking for immediate intervention at the hospital.

"We also called upon the MEC to publicly state what the department plans to do about the non-availability of doctors at the Middelburg hospital," said Rheeder on Wednesday.

Nine doctors on duty

Health spokesperson Dumisani Mlangeni said hospital management had informed him on Wednesday that there were currently nine doctors at the hospital.

But he urged anyone who has been turned away from the hospital under the pretext that there were no doctors on duty, to alert senior management at the hospital or the department.

"The department will take the necessary steps against whoever is turning people away," said Mlangeni.

- African Eye