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“I do not want my husband to lie in this hospital because this is where people die,” said Ms. Ida Tshokola, a domestic worker who was traditionally married to Mr Aron Tshokola and had dreams of her beautiful, formal wedding to him when they could afford it someday. She was eventually convinced that everything would be fine at the hospital, due to the fact that the entire hospital board and all its members had signed the new Batho Pele policy and made public promises to the community about shorter waiting periods, better service and quicker care on 9 May, less than a month ago. She soon found that these were, once again, a bunch of empty promises. Aron had been taken to the hospital on the principal of Westfields’ instruction. He had previously seen a doctor at the hospital who charged him R220 for the consultation (which is illegal and should not be done) and who booked him off for two weeks. The two weeks were up, Aron only felt much worse, but returned to Westfields Primary School where he worked as a cleaner and coached a soccer team. “When I saw Aron’s state, I immediately asked Mr Leslie Ivings to take him to hospital,” said Mr Harry Louw, principal. “He was terribly ill and weak.” Finding Aron at the hospital was an almost impossible task for Ida. She first tried the helpdesk ? the woman could only tell her that he would either be in casualty or OPD (out patient’s department.) She was shown away at casualty and told he was not there. He was also not in OPD. A nurse in OPD did, however, “know where he was” and referred her to wards three and four. These wards showed no sign of Aron. Another male nurse then said he had seen Aron in ward six and would take her there. Once she got to the ward, relieved that her 45 minute search was over, the security gate opened with the buzzer usually used to allow access, but the inside door’s key had been lost. Eventually the group of waiting people outside the ward consisted of an anxious woman wanting to see her ill husband, a male nurse and two paramedic workers with a bed they wanted to return to the ward. Ida was then allowed in through the side door by the cleaner. Aron was in a bad state coughing badly, battling to breathe and complaining about shoulder pain but could still sit up straight and speak to his wife. Studente nurses could not tell Ida what was wrong with Aron and said that he would only be able to see a doctor at 10:00 the next morning. They also then said that the doctor would do x-rays on him the next morning. At that stage it was approximately 11:00 and Ida was convinced that they would take care of Aron and would, should his condition worsen, immediately call the doctor for assistance. They said they would monitor him all the time and that he was in very capable hands. She then agreed saying that, if he was not better by the next day she would take him to a private doctor. A shock but not a surprise the next morning ? Aron had passed away at 04:00. Ida was called and told that he had died and the cause of death: they did not know at that stage. When the Herald visited the hospital, Mr Joshua Tlholoe, the nursing manager, was extremely kind and understanding and said that he would investigate the matter. Tlholoe told the Herald later that a pre-diagnosis was given by the doctor Aron had seen in OPD and had some sort of respiratory tract infection and possibly TB. He also said that x-rays had been performed on Aron. The Herald was then told that a mobile x-ray was done on him. A mobile x-ray can only take place if a porter is available to push the big, extremely heavy x-ray machine up to the ward and an informant told the Herald that these are not, performed regularly. Furthermore, when the Herald called the hospital to find out whether the x-ray had been done and spoke to one of the radiographers, there was no record of Aron Tsholoka whatsoever and the radiographer said that she would have remembered had it been done, but that the name did not even ring a bell. When Ida asked for a post mortem to know the cause of her husband’s death, she was told to pay R5 000. The death of Aron thus remains a guess. Identifying her son’s body, as difficult a task it already is for a mother, was made even more difficult for Ms Suzie Tsholoka when she was refused service until she paid R40, another illegal procedure taking place. When they arrived at the hospital to sign out Aron’s body from the hospital mortuary in order for the funeral parlour to collect they experienced bad customer care all over again. Besides the fact that the gate guards are highly unprofessional, passing comments such as “Sweetie ? I Love You,” when you drive past them they searched, for exactly 34 minutes for Aron yet neither the helpdesk, the casualty reception (which is where patients with serious injuries or illnesses are admitted) nor the reception desk where they were supposed to have been assisted had a single clerk or receptionist in sight. Eventually a young woman, Ms Maria Shabalala, arrogantly asked what they wanted. She found Aron’s file and when Ida asked to see it, refused to allow her to view it. The Herald explained that Mr Tlholoe said the previous day that his wife had every right to view the file. She called him and then handed us the file after getting his permission first. The Herald asked for a copy and was then told that an affidavit was first to be obtained, together with a fee of R68 (the file is not much thicker than approximately 7 pages). “They must close this hospital’s doors,” “This place is just a mortuary,” “They do not care about your life at this hospital, especially if you are black,” and “We think that poison gets injected into many of the patients,” are but a few of the things one hears while waiting in the long queues of sick, desperate people who are praying that their lives will be saved and not lost like all those before them at this excuse of a hospital. After many calls to all the relevant people, nobody was available for comment on this matter.

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