No privacy for HIV patients
THE antiretroviral (ARV) unit at Bambisana Hospital in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape operates in a tiny room where patients are counselled, tested and given their results, seated just centimetres from each other.
“There ’ s absolutely no privacy,” said a nurse, adding that she and her nine colleagues attended to more than 60 patients a day.
The rural hospital, one of the pilot sites for the National Health Insurance scheme, has only one full-time doctor, Sivuyile Nokhangela.
Nokhangela, who sees more than 60 patients a day, could not be reached for comment.
However, nurses and administration staff painted a picture of the doctor’s 13-hour day.
One nurse said that he usually began his shift by visiting wards from 7am to about 11am. On average, the hospital has 134 patients. After a brief break, the doctor attends to the queues in the outpatients’ ward until about 8pm.
“He hardly finds any time to take a break . . . [and] is often called to attend to emergencies in the other wards,” said the nurse.
The hospital has not had a functioning X-ray machine for more than two years. Patients needing X-rays are sent to the St Elizabeth Hospital, 30km away.
It is also running out of thermometers, was running out of tuberculosis medicine in November and suffered shortages of ARVs.
The food is mainly samp and watered-down soup , described by a nurse as “unpalatable ”.
“Once a month, patients are served meat and vegetables, ” she said, adding that the hospital recently ran out of food, so families had to bring meals to those in hospital.
Provincial health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo confirmed that there was a doctor shortage, but said that an additional permanent doctor was due to begin next month.