Pretoria man loses Covid battle after six-hour search for hospital bed

A prominent, successful and popular resident from the east of Pretoria passed away from Covid-19 related complications after an ambulance transported him to five different hospitals where he was refused entry due to a lack of available beds.

On 1 January, 56-year-old Nico Scheepers passed away as his partner Monia Vermaak watched him suffer. This was after she alerted ER24 to pick him up at their home in Six Fountains Estate, after he had collapsed on the ground and was turning purple

“Nico was a larger than life man. Not only in life, but physically as well.

“After falling ill and testing positive for Covid-19 on 22 December 2020, we stayed at home and isolated until he got better. Unfortunately that did not happen and on 31 December I called an ambulance for the first time. Nico couldn’t be admitted as his vital signs were still looking well.

“But on the 1st of January, I found him on the floor, very weak and almost unresponsive,” Vermaak told Rekord.

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Vermaak couldn’t lift him, so she called ER24 just after 07:00.

“The lady on the line was very helpful, but informed me that no ambulances were available. After trying her best, an ambulance became available and Nico was picked up right after 10:00.”

Driving from one hospital to another, the gravity of the current Covid-19 situation in South Africa struck Monia.

“At all the hospitals we arrived at, we were simply refused entry, with hospital staff saying they had no beds available.

“One hospital matron actually chased us away saying we can’t stay in the ambulance on hospital grounds, we had to leave immediately. The ambulance staff tried their best to get a doctor to just look at him, maybe stabilise him, but to no avail,” she said.

Nico Scheepers. Picture: Supplied

Nico started hyper-ventilating and his body started going into shock.

“On our way to Unitas, a ER24 dispatcher called the ambulance driver and informed us that a bed had become available at Netcare Pretoria East hospital, and that is where we had gone. Our fifth and final try.”

Nico was immediately transported to the hospital trauma unit, but it was already too late.

“I suspect due to the trauma to his body, after trying to find a hospital that would admit him for six hours, he just couldn’t take it anymore and he gave up,” Vermaak said.

Nico Scheepers passed away at around 16:30 that afternoon, after struggling from around 10:00 that morning to find an available bed in any private or state hospital in Pretoria.

“One thing I realised is that the ‘system’ for Covid-19 in our country, is not working, it is not effective at all.

“We drove around from one hospital to another, for six hours and absolutely had no one to help us,” she said.

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According to Vermaak, Nico had no pre-existing conditions, apart from mild rheumatoid arthritis in his wrists. He was an avid spinning instructor, working in gyms across the country for close to 20 years.

“This man was active, he was strong, he was healthy, I still can’t comprehend why this had to happen.”

Nico was also a lecturer at the University of Pretoria and had his own hypno-therapy practice.

ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring confirmed the incident to Rekord.

“ER24 can confirm that it has noted, as has been confirmed by both the private and public hospital sectors, a strong, sustained and sudden increase in the number of Covid-19 patients presenting for care with numbers rising dramatically across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng over the past two weeks,” he said.

“Where hospitals are experiencing high volumes of patients within the ICU and high care units and are unable to accommodate any further patients in these units for a period of time, a decision will be made to implement a diversion to another hospital with capacity to avoid any individual’s care being compromised due to a delay in receiving treatment.

“In addition, patients in certain places where hospitals are overwhelmed may have to be prioritised for treatment, based on recognised triage guidelines for this. In practice, this may mean that certain levels of high-care treatment, ventilators or certain oxygen treatments will not be available to all patients. As per standard policy and procedure, ER24 will always try to transport patients to other hospitals where there is capacity,” he said.

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Meiring said that the hospital groups in question were investigating this particular incident as a matter of priority and will revert to the family with details regarding the outcomes.

Nico Scheepers leaves behind three daughters. A private celebration of life ceremony will be held by his family on Wednesday.

This article was republished from Rekord East with permission

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