Breathless and in pain – ‘Nurses said I must walk to the clinic’
We have always heard about the lack of service at government institutions, but having to see it first-hand, was quite an experience, says family
POLOKWANE – It was in the early hours of Tuesday, 26 November when the family of Westenburg resident, Roman Gordon called an ambulance as he was struggling to breathe and complained of abdominal pain.
Hours later and after several interventions that should have taken place, they found him sitting under a tree between hospitals, struggling for breath.
On the day they sent for an ambulance, he was picked up at 05:00, said his sister, Margret Southon.
“The ambulance took him to the provincial hospital, but when my sister and I went there at 10:00, there was no sign of him.”
According to Southon, panic set in after nurses recalled not receiving him as a patient. “We searched the entire hospital, but he was not there.”
Upon enquiring about this at the front desk, the sisters were told Gordon had been transferred to Rethabile Clinic.
“There were inaccuracies in the information taken about my father. It stated he arrived at the hospital in private transport, when he was in fact transported via ambulance. They didn’t even let us know that they had referred him.”
Soon after arriving at Rethabile Clinic, the sisters realised their father wasn’t there either.
“At that moment, the only other place he could have been at, was the mortuary,” I thought.
As they left, they found Gordon sitting under a tree, out of breath.
“It was traumatic to see him struggling to breathe.
“How can our health officials let an old man who had come to the hospital due to a shortage of breath, walk all the way from the provincial hospital in that heat?” Southon asked.
“We have always heard about the lack of service at government institutions, but having to see it first-hand, was quite an experience.”
The sisters eventually decided to take their father back to Rethabile, and then phoned BONUS to investigate.
They left their father in the queue, and in the time they had a conversation with the journalist outside the building, he was sent from pillar to post.
“It took roughly an hour-and-a-half to find him. You could see he was visibly not well and had no cognition of what had been going on around him,” Southon said.
Gordon told BONUS that, nurses at the provincial hospital told him to walk to Rethabile Clinic.
“I complained about abdominal pain and was struggling to breathe. The nurses told me I could not be helped.”
Gordon was once again admitted to hospital on Saturday, and is now receiving patient treatment.
Department of Health Spokesperson Neil Shikwambana was sent questions on the matter.
