A mother from Dersley Park was disgusted with the service she and her son received at the Far East Rand Hospital.
Dolly Grobbelaar described April 5 as “the worst experience ever” when she rushed her son, Phillipus (21), to the Far East Rand Hospital.
“The public, patients, relatives, husbands or wives that go to provincial hospitals because they can’t afford medical aid do not need to be treated like animals. We are all humans, ” she said.
Grobbelaar took Phillipus to the Far East Rand Hospital around 3am when he complained about a pain on the right side of his stomach.
“When we arrived at hospital it was smelly and very dirty. In the emergency ward there was urine on the floor. The bed was dirty, so I said to myself I cannot leave my son here,” remembered Grobbelaar.
She rushed her son to the N17 Hospital, where were they did tests. The doctor explained it was his appendix and that he had to get surgery as soon as possible.
Because she could not afford treatment at that hospital, they went to the Heidelberg Provincial Hospital, just to hear they were not doing surgery.
Armed with a letter from the N17 Hospital’s doctor, as well as sonar and blood tests, they went back to Far East Rand Hospital because it was close to home as she did not have the funds for travelling to other hospitals.
Upon arrival at about 11am the hell of waiting for her son’s appendix operation started until he was eventually operated on at 11pm.
They waited for hours in the waiting room so that a doctor could attend to Phillipus.
“We waited there and waited. After making friends with other patients in the waiting room they told us they were waiting since early that morning and still nothing,” she said.
No complaints from her or other patients to the staff and security brought success.
At 5pm some of the nurses took the patients into a room where they started to attend to them. Some were admitted and others seen by the doctor.
“The nurse that helped my son was rude when I wanted to show her that we had all the results from N17, and chased me out of the room.”
She later called her back where her son was sitting with a drip, asking for the N17 doctors’ reports.
After this she had to leave the room again.
A female security officer entered the room saying she had to wait outside because her son was not that critical, which upset her more.
“After all the words and arguments with staff and security we waited until 9pm when the surgeon examined my son and other patients who had also been waiting the whole day.”
Phillipus was operated on the same night from 11pm to 1.45am.
He was discharged on April 7.
Grobbelaar said her doctor had to clean the wound and a pharmacist drained the wound.
HZ Buda, communications manager of Far East Rand Hospital confirmed Phillipus was attended to in the Accident and Emergency Unit (Casualty) where the medical doctor diagnosed him as stable, but in need of surgical assessment.
He said patients on arrival were allocated according to the severity of their conditions.
Because Phillipus was stable and could speak for himself, Grobbelaar had to adhere to the hospital’s rule that no-one could stay with a patient in this unit.
“We are aware of the distress felt by families whose loved ones are admitted to the hospital. However, due to the limited space in the Accident and Emergency Unit, we urge them to give preference to visitors whose family members are unable to speak for themselves, walk or who are children who need monitoring,” he said.
