When *Mr Peter Lombard arrived at Witbank Provincial Hospital, he was sure he was in the best hands possible, but he was in for a surprise.
On March 28, at approximately 12:00, Peter’s family rushed him to Witbank Provincial Hospital.
Blood tests and x-rays were taken almost immediately.
By 23:00 that night, Peter was finally admitted.
Once inside of the ward, Peter decided that it was about time that he emptied his bladder after the day’s events.
As Peter pulled open a cubicle, the door slowly dragged a stripe of blood across the floor.
Half of the cubicle floor was covered in a mixture of water and blood.
“At 08:00 the next morning, 9 hours after we first saw the bloody bathroom, I went back to see my father in hospital. Nothing had been done to improve the hygiene standards of the bathroom in those 9 hours. The floor was still covered in blood,” *Mrs Katie Galloway, Peter’s daughter, recounted.
Next, Peter was told he’d need to go for a sonar to find the cause of his pain.
“After waiting in Witbank Provincial Hospital for days– with the doctor’s telling us they’ll do a sonar ‘tomorrow’ every day – my brother finally took my father’s file and had the sonar done privately. After the sonar, we took the file and the sonar’s results back to Witbank Provincial Hospital where we were told that my father would now need a CT scan,” Katie explained, “finally after a week and a half of waiting for the CT scan, my dad finally got one. The fluid that they were supposed to pump into his veins via an IV-bag for the CT scan didn’t go where it was intended to go. My father’s arm started filling up with fluid and swelling while he was waiting for the CT scan to commence. He had to kick and scream in order for the doctors to notice that something was wrong.”
“It’s been three weeks and my dad still has the same pain that we came in with on March 28, and we’re still no closer to an answer. We have taken medical aid out for my dad due to this incident, but unfortunately he’s subject to a waiting period. My dad didn’t even have hot, running water in his ward in hospital. We bought him water to drink and bathe with from home every day,” Katie concluded.
The Department of Health was approached for comment but hadn’t replied at the time of publication.
* Names changed to protect informants.
