Gravely ill Monica Zondani sent back home from hospital
Gravely ill 48-year-old Monica Zondani, who was admitted at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital 10 days ago, was discharged on May 4 and sent back to the shack she shares with her three children and three grandchildren at the Mandela Park informal settlement.
Zondani’s 25-year-old eldest daughter, Sinovuyo, who is unemployed, told Kathorus MAIL that her mother?s condition has worsened and she now fears for the worst.
It feels like she was discharged from hospital and sent home to die in our arms because of her condition,? said the distraught daughter who is a mother of three.
Monica’s youngest child, who is six years old, is in Grade 1 at a local primary school while her second-born son, who is 18 and out of school, is also unemployed.
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The family depends on the six-year-old’s child grant and that of Sinovuyo’s three young children. When I went to fetch her from the hospital, the doctors informed me that her condition was due to her default on her HIV treatment, said Sinovuyo.
The family said they do not qualify for the free government-issued food parcels because of the child grants they receive from the State.
Ours is a real serious matter since none of us qualifies for the R350 Covid-19 monthly government financial assistance that was announced by President Ramaphosa, explained Monica’s eldest daughter.
Although Sinovuyo is now her mother’s only caregiver, she described the family’s situation as dire and desperate. She told Kathorus MAIL that her only hope is to nurse her sick mother back to health or have her admitted back to the hospital again.
Our mother desperately needs professional help which my younger brother and I cannot provide because we are not qualified to do so. And now she has been sent back to us by doctors at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital.
Our only solace now is hope and prayer, said Sinovuyo tearfully. The family said they also rely on the help from neighbours who sometimes give them whatever they can afford to.
There are some days when we go to bed without food and as the only older person in the household, I am often forced to go out and beg neighbours for something to eat, explained the daughter.
Neighbours said even though they too find themselves stretched out to their meager limits, they are always prepared to share whatever they have with the Zondani family.
Times are hard and our own situation in our homes is just as bad, but we always pull our resources and help those who are worse off than us, said Veronica Mthombeni, herself a struggling and unemployed mother and wife of an ill husband who now lives with extended family in the Eastern Cape.
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A discharge letter signed by Dr. Boloyi at the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus confirmed Monica?s Zondani treatment at the hospital and her subsequent release at the health facility on May 4. Asked how she was feeling, Monica said she was feeling better, but her anxious daughter disputed this and described her as sick and actually worse than before she was admitted to hospital.
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