POLOKWANE – Unable to walk unassisted, she soiled her bed several times and was left to lie in the mess, with the only help coming from her family during visiting hours.
Magriet Alberts (57) was at the mercy of the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital. She said she was admitted after being diagnosed as having an obstruction of the bowel. Her admittance followed over two hours of waiting for assistance due to there being only one administrator available, she said.
But the worst was still to come. Following her admittance, she was put into a hospital bed and left unattended, without medication or a doctor examining her.
“Because of the pain I needed help going to the bathroom to relieve myself but I was left on my own without any assistance. On more that one occasion I soiled myself and the bed. Sometimes the bedding was only changed after a couple of days,” she said.
She said she was only assisted by her family when they visited during visiting hours, though this did not help much as the bedding was not clean.
Alberts discharged herself after waiting for more than a week to be assisted. She was diagnosed by a private doctor to have bleeding in her stomach and would need an operation.
According to the doctor who did not wish to be identified for professional reasons, he was concerned over the length of time that Alberts was left unattended to as this could have caused more internal damage.
However, as Alberts has no medical aid fund and is unable to afford extensive private medical costs, she will be forced to return to the provincial hospital and once again put herself at their mercy.
In another incident involving alleged misdiagnosis at the same hospital, a 25-year-old woman, who it later emerged was suffering with gallstones, was sent home after being told there was nothing wrong with her. This, in spite of her vomiting blood at the time.
Health spokesperson Adéle van der Linde said the department was serious about solving the problem of hospital employees not doing their jobs.
She said people should report such incidents to the relevant manager at the hospital, as well as the department.
The health department has a hotline which is 0800 91 91 91, and it operates from Monday to Friday between 07:30 – 16:30.
