Pretoria hospital denies turning metro man away

Montana hospital in Pretoria has denied turning away a metro worker recently hurt when an electric box exploded.

“A doctor promptly started treating him,” the hospital’s acting general manager, Daan Slabbert, said on Friday.

Prince Mona, 48, suffered burn wounds when an electricity box exploded as he tried to open it in Doornpoort, in the north of Pretoria, last Sunday, Rekord North reported.

He told Rekord from his hospital bed on Wednesday that he was turned away by Montana hospital.

Her said management told him the hospital did not accept patients with injuries sustained on duty.

Slabbert said : “He was brought by a coworker to Netcare Montana Hospital’s emergency department, and a doctor promptly started treating him.”

The decision to remove Mona from the hospital was taken by his employer, said Slabbert.

The employers insisted that he be taken to another hospital, which was a designated service provider for the Tshwane metro.

“The employer signed the relevant documentation confirming voluntary refusal of further hospital treatment at Netcare Montana hospital,” said Slabbert.

“Thereafter, he was removed and transported to another hospital in a vehicle belonging to the City of Tshwane.”

Explaining what happened the day he got injured, Mona said he and a coworker were called out to a job where a family had reported that they could not load electricity on their prepaid meter.

“We found no fault on their meter box, we decided to check the meter box in the street, which is a few blocks away,” he said.

“When we got there, the box seemed half-opened. When I tried to open it to check what was wrong, it exploded.”

Mona was badly injured.

“I sustained serious burn wounds to both hands, my neck, my right leg and on my abdomen,” he said.

Mona said the coworker helped him to Montana hospital.

He said after Montana hospital turned him away, he was taken to Eugene Marais hospital by a Tshwane metro vehicle.

“They told me the same thing, but treated my hand, arranged an ambulance and transported me to Akasia hospital,” he said.

– Caxton News Service

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