Tambo Hospital patient left with needle in the arm following kidney stone treatment
A surgeon had to perform medical operations to remove the needle.
A resident of Reiger Park, Jageleen Hermanus (33), claims that health workers had left a needle inside her body while receiving kidney stone treatment at Tambo Memorial Hospital.
The complainant says she was admitted to the hospital on April 3 for kidney stones, and she remained in the hospital for almost two weeks.
A day after she was discharged from the hospital, Hermanus says she began experiencing pain, feeling like she was being prickled by something inside her right upper arm.
This was the same spot where the doctor used needles and syringes to inject medication into her body on numerous occasions during her hospitalisation.
The patient returned to the hospital on April 19 and said she had been in pain and asked to be checked by a doctor.
Health workers went to look for her medical file and hours later, they told her that the file could not be found and the missing file meant she would have to create a new one.
She returned to the hospital later on and met with management to resolve the problem. Eventually, a new file was created, a doctor was asked to examine her, and new tests were done on her as no information on her condition existed.
“Guess what? The doctor diagnosed me as having an infection under my arm,” said Hermanus.
Hermanus was still not convinced and she then asked to have an X-ray on her arm. She went to the X-ray and after studying the X-ray photograph, the doctor reportedly noticed that she had something that resembles a needle in her right arm.
Thereupon, a surgeon was called to perform medical operations and remove the needle.
“I got so scared when it was confirmed that there was a needle inside my arm. I haven’t even received an apology from the hospital.
“Only the specialist were so kind to me, although it wasn’t their fault, they are just the ones who fixed the problem. No word from the sister and the doctors,” said Hermanus.
At this stage, it remains unclear how the needle got inside Hermanus’ body.
The Advertiser is waiting for comment from the Department of Health. -@MthuphaFanie
ALSO READ: Daughter slams hospital for ‘bad treatment’ of late mother
Tambo Memorial is unsafe, new facility needed – Health MEC .
