Dear Editor,
'Health watchdog on the cards' is a headline that needs to be challenged!
Just like the Independent Complaints Directorate, and all the Chapter 9 institutions, a health watchdog is doomed to fail!
I recently had the misfortune to experience the joys of our public health system and the verdict is that it is a system in crisis and a total failure!
My daughter, after experiencing abdominal pain and being “misdiagnosed” by a private clinic and hospital, ended up in a provincial hospital casualty ward at midnight. Seven hours later she was admitted and later that day she had a two-and-a-half hour operation to remove a mass in her colon. That’s when the fun and games started.
Before I go any further let me make it clear that although the conditions of the casualty ward, both in the waiting area and treatment area are unbelievably appalling in respect of cleanliness, patients/people sleeping on the floors covered in blood, attitude of support staff that leaves much to be desired, the treatment she received from the doctors and senior nursing staff was superb. They deserve a medal for their commitment and perseverance in the face of extreme odds.
It is in the wards that the problems exist and this is where the battle will be lost. The wards themselves are a time-bomb of filth and a disaster waiting to happen. Very little is done to keep areas clean – a bloody glove can sit on the floor for three days and life goes on; six lifts and only two are working; one toilet to serve 20 patients; no air-conditioning, etc.
This is aggravated by the insulting nursing staff (not all them as there are some who are a shining beacon of light) who are there to do as little as possible. In our experience, provincial nursing staff at that hospital were by and large rude, lazy, arrogant and unprofessional.
Until such time as the government makes a commitment to accountability and responsibility at a ministerial level down they cannot expect the same at lower levels of disservice.
Mbeki, Balfour, Hofmeyer, GSSC, Travelgate, Eskom, Denel, Land Bank, Schaik, et al are manifestations of a party and government in denial. More money goes into salaries, for people who are not fit to do the jobs they are appointed to, than services and delivering acceptable levels thereof is a pipedream.
The hospital that my daughter was in was once one of the top provincial facilities in the country. Posters about 'patient rights' that adorned those walls are a waste of space.
Martin A
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