Free State’s hospitals of death exposed
WHEN Nyakallo Sekaledi was admitted to Botshabelo District Hospital in the Free State in September last year after complaining of headaches, a doctor allegedly told him he had tuberculosis.
He was discharged after being in hospital for five days and was given antibiotics and paracetamol to take home.
But on November 5, a doctor at National District Hospital in Bloemfontein confirmed that Sekaledi had a brain tumour. The 22-yearold died in hospital the next day.
Sekaledi’s brother, James Hlazo, was among 50 Free State residents from 15 towns who gave shocking testimony this week on the appalling state of healthcare in the province, during two days of public hearings in Bloemfontein.
The so-called People’s Commission of Inquiry was organised by the Treatment Action Campaign because it believes the province’s health system is one of the worst in South Africa.
Hlazo told the three-member panel, which included Bishop Paul Verryn, formerly of the Methodist Church in Johannesburg, he was “very, very disappointed” in the province’s health system.
A patient, Betty Mabuza, who gave birth to a dead baby, recounted her inhumane treatment at the hands of nurses and a doctor at Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom earlier this year. MISDIAGNOSED: Zondiwe Sekaledi with her son, James Hlazo, who is holding a photo of his brother, Nyakallo Sekaledi, who died in hospital of a brain tumour. At right is Botshabelo District Hospital, near Bloemfontein, where Nyakallo was initially treated
The 31-year-old mother of one, who broke down several times during her testimony, said she was nine months pregnant on February 8 when she went into labour.
She went to Tsepong Clinic in Welkom but was told to go to the hospital. “When I arrived at the hospital, I had to sit in the waiting room for over five hours and only when I insisted that I was having serious labour pains did the nurses attend to me,” she said.
“They discovered that my baby’s heart had stopped beating. They then just took me to a bed and left me.”
She said she felt a sharp pain in her back after a doctor sent her to a room: “I could see the baby’s head was coming out. I hit the bell to call the attention of the nurses. One nurse said: ‘I see you now know how to deliver your own baby.’
“I had to deliver my baby myself with no assistance.”
Other written submissions told of:
Masidiso Matsheliso, of Brandfort, who lost her baby during birth at National District Hospital in Bloemfontein.
She was seven months pregnant when she went to the hospital complaining of bleeding, but was told to go home by a nurse who said they did not deal with bleeding patients. Before she left, she felt the urge to urinate and, while urinating, her baby fell into a bucket; and
Stompi Tolo of Bultfontein, a 41-year-old woman who was diagnosed with hypertension. She wrote that some people at Phahameng Clinic were not taking their HIV medication because they felt too embarrassed to enter a room marked “ARV [antiretroviral] room”.
A statement from an anonymous group of health workers at Dihlabeng Regional Hospital in Bethlehem said the fire department had to help carry patients up and down the stairs because the lifts were not working.
Hlazo told the Sunday Times: “The department of health killed my brother because they [the hospital] gave him the wrong diagnosis. If he had the right diagnosis, he may still be living.”
Verryn told the hearing he was disturbed by the way patients were being treated in the Free State. “That has done deep damage. We need to recognise that a deep part of healthcare is to recognise the dignity of every human being.”
Another commission member, Thembeka Gwagwa, said it was important for it to hear the provincial health depart- ment’s response to the submissions. “Because if not, they will rubbish our report, so it’s very important that we listen to them,” she said.
A delegation from the provincial health department walked out of the inquiry on the first day of proceedings.
The TAC said the lack of engagement showed the lack of respect by the people who had the power to solve the health crisis. It said it was meeting the Free State MEC for health, Dr Benny Malakoane, tomorrow.
Part of healthcare is to recognise the dignity of every human
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