Doctor accused of refusing to treat patient

NGWELEZANA Hospital has undertaken to investigate allegations that one of its doctors refused to treat a patient by demanding a referral letter from a local clinic.

It is alleged that on Sunday night retired KwaMsane judge, David Ntshangase, rushed one of his employees to Ngwelezana Hospital, but was disappointed when the doctor refused to treat the patient.

‘Before we went to the hospital, we started at KwaMsane clinic, where we were told to rush her to Ngwelezana,’ said Ntshangase.

‘Unfortunately, they did not give us a referral letter. When we got to Ngwelezana, the patient acted strangely, as if she was losing her mind.

‘The doctor twice refused to treat her because we had no referral letter. I was so embarrassed.

‘I had no choice but to wait until Monday morning. I feared that taking her back to KwaMsane clinic would be risky and that she could have died on the way.

‘We had to wait for nine hours to get medical assistance. She was eventually treated on Monday about 7am by a day shift doctor.’

King Cetshwayo Assistant Director of Communications, Sibongiseni Manqele, said Ngwelezana was a tertiary hospital responding to referrals from first level medical facilities. A patient’s condition is assessed on arrival and treated accordingly.

‘Mr Ntshangase’s incident is under investigation and the hospital has contacted him to gather more facts on the matter,’ he said.