Radiation patients referred
Patients who receive their radiation therapy at the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital have to go to other public hospitals outside Limpopo for their treatment.
POLOKWANE – Patients who receive their radiation therapy at the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital have to go to other public hospitals outside Limpopo for their treatment.
This after the radiation machine at the hospital recently broke and the department of health could not confirm when the machine would be repaired.
Department spokesperson, Macks Lesufi, said patients would be referred to other public hospitals outside the province.
“The hospital management met with the service provider last week and there are contractual issues that are pending. These should be finalised to make sure that the radiation equipment is functional and patients get the service they deserve,” Lesufi said.
In April last year patients were also sent home because the machine was not working.
According to patients who spoke to Review on condition of anonymity as they feared being victimised, the department was unfair when it came to ensuring patients received top healthcare.
Patients said they were very sick and without therapy they could die. “We are already behind with our treatment because the machine at the hospital broke, now we have to wait for openings at other hospitals outside the province in order to get our treatment,” one patient said.
“The management and health MEC have medical aids so they do not care about us who use the government hospitals and therefore they do not care to fix these problems urgently. The machine has been out of operation for two weeks, and still there is no sign of it getting repaired any time soon. It’s unacceptable,” the patient further said.
Another patient said the department promised last year that the machine would not break again because the service provider would service the machine continuously. “Some of us travel from far to come to the hospital and now we will have to spend even more money to get to the referral hospitals.
“Some of us are pensioners, we cannot afford this financially, but have no choice because our lives depend on it,” the patient said.
Lesufi gave his assurance that patients would be transported to the hospitals outside the province by the department.
“We have a programme with the emergency medical services called patient planned transport (PPT). The patients who are referred to the hospitals will be transported by the PPT free of charge,” Lesufi said.
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