Imposters in nurses’ garb
THE events prior to the death of sixyear-old Mpho Roberts of Buffalo Flats which we reported on in Friday’s Dispatch are events that no newspaper should have to report on. Ever.
The critically sick little boy was carried for a kilometre in the arms of his frantic older brother to the appropriate place to get medical care. In this case, the Empilweni Health Centre, during office hours.
Did the brothers find what they so urgently needed – medically trained and attuned people willingly to provide potentially life-saving service? Not a chance.
Quite the opposite, according to the family now in deep mourning. Locked gates through which a security guard refused to allow the brothers to pass was the first obstacle. It’s difficult here to imagine the guard was acting of his own accord.
Desperate, older brother Romeo ran back home with ailing Mpho on his back to fetch his aunt. They then rushed back to the clinic and, lo and behold, went through a repeat performance of round one, except now with precious time lost.
By this stage the family was crying out to nursing staff inside, pleading for help. The callous response of one nurse was that she was “busy”, a comment made as she walked away leaving the failing boy in the arms of two visibly distraught adults.
Had the staff at this clinic had the slightest modicum of compassion, not to mention professional sensibility, they would surely have been willing and able to perform the most basic aspect of their vocation – to extend care in urgent circumstances and thereby maybe, hopefully, save a life.
But compassion and professionalism were absent at Empilweni. Making things worse, not for the first time. We previously reported on a similar lack at these premises.
We do not disregard the fact that the state medical service is woefully small and under-resourced. That the numbers of people to whom doctors and nurses must tend are often overwhelming. Nor do we discount the comparatively poor salaries.
But to display callous indifference to a child from a poor family with no means to go elsewhere for decent medical care in an emergency? A child who then dies in broad daylight after help refused to come?
This is beyond comprehension and utterly inexcusable. In fact, it is not nursing or health care or even common human decency. It is fraud perpetrated by people dressed in the uniforms of medics and nurses, imposters who behave like low-level bureaucrats on a mission to do the minimum.
It’s no use trying to pretend such people do not exist in the medical profession. They do. As the public we encounter them far too often. These people not only inflict undue suffering on the infirm, but rubbish the reputations of many dedicated and excellent medical practitioners.
But when things go so far that mercy is refused in a life-threatening situation, things have gone way too far.
The health department has said it will investigate. It must. It must also inform the public of the outcome of the probe, and of the steps to be taken to ensure that this facility – and others – serve the purpose they are intended for, in the hands of people whose desire is to do what their title implies. The bottom line is simple – there must be consequences for negligence.