There is something seriously wrong with the society we live in. Two heavily pregnant women, one in her mid-40s and the other in her late 20s, who live in different parts of the country, claimed they were chased away from their respective health-care facilities by the nursing staff, who refused to attend to them. This is a serious indictment of the country’s state health system.
The two women said that although their physical conditions were clear for anyone to see, they were nevertheless abused and denied medical assistance at both facilities.
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The older woman claimed she was insulted and told she was “too old” to have fallen pregnant. The woman alleged she had to be assisted by a younger member of her family who had accompanied her to the local clinic and that she was forced to deliver her baby in the street in full view of people passing by. The younger woman told reporters that she, too, was mistreated and verbally abused by the nursing staff at the health facility she visited to give birth and that she was also denied access to the facility.
As if these two incidents were not enough, something even more revolting and utterly shocking surfaced on social media – images of a gravely ill elderly man lying on a government hospital bed with maggots coming out of his mouth.
How disgusting!
Just two weeks earlier, yet another shameful video involving another government hospital in Pretoria emerged, showing a sick and traumatised female patient in her early 70s tied to a bench inside the facility.
Among these known public health facilities is our own Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus, which over the past few years has also had to explain its own controversial decisions and mistakes for which it has often publicly apologised.
Yet, like all state-run facilities, Thelle Mogoerane Hospital and the two township clinics that turned away the pregnant women are supposed to be symbols of the government’s commitment to caring for the nation’s health.
In fact, having had the privilege of being taken on a tour of the hospital with other journalists soon after it opened a few years ago and shown the state-of-the-art medical technology at its disposal, I was filled with hope and high praise for the new facility. But now it seems as if there is something seriously wrong, not with the health facilities but with the people who run them.
Perhaps now it is time that all health facilities in the townships took the bull by the horns and dealt with the serious issues affecting health facilities in the country. Maybe it is also the right time that Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, as well as the country’s nursing council Denoza, stood with the health unions and took a stern stance towards management and staff who violate the nursing code. They should replace them with people who want to serve and save lives.
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Incidents such as the ones just mentioned, along with the new phenomenon of attacking emergency services in the township, coupled with the violent attacks on medical staff at hospitals, should be dealt with and eradicated once and for all.
It is disappointing that 25 years into democracy, the very people the politicians turn to for votes are deprived of their basic health needs.
Not even during the bad old days of apartheid were the poor and ordinary people in the townships treated so shabbily and with such disdain as they are now treated by their own.
Back in action
Finally, after performing horrendously in the Africa Cup of Nations, Bafana Bafana seem to have just made it back to form by beating Egypt.
The national soccer side made up their minds to finally stand up and fight like men in the Africa Cup qualifying game against the highly favoured Egypt. In fact, just when the entire nation was beginning to call for a boycott of the national football team, Egypt came along and presented themselves as a sacrificial lamb on the CAF football altar.
What a great relief for the players and the scores of embattled South African soccer fans who were getting frustrated by the home side’s continued poor performance since the continental games began a fortnight ago. As a supportive nation, we can only raise the national flag sky high in honour of our boys.
Perhaps this is just what our national team needs to turn the tide.
Well done, Boys!
Violence will always beget violence
Can the education authorities please come up with a tangible plan to stop the growing rampant violence at our schools?
Unless the authorities find a solution to curb the lawlessness that rules township schools, soon many of them will become no-go areas where teenage gang violence rules.
Talking to teachers and learners alike, one gets the feeling that many of them have lost hope of ever viewing schools as centres of learning. Instead drugs, violence, alcohol and sex are just some of the many taboo activities that have become popular with learners at many schools in our townships.
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Parents are the most affected by the status quo and many of them seem to have no idea how to deal with the situation. Sadly, as a nation we cannot continue to keep silent and ignore this destructive path that has the potential to wreak havoc on our schools and render our education system dysfunctional.
