Pregnant woman’s poor treatment at Klipfontein Clinic

After a six-hour wait at a clinic, one would expect to receive treatment for one of the reasons you sat there for those long hours waiting patiently, but this was not the case for a woman in eMalahleni.

On Friday, June 14, a five-month-pregnant woman and her 10-year-old daughter arrived at the Klipfontein Clinic at around 10:30 for antenatal care and a urinary tract infection (UTI).

Upon entering the gate, she was informed by the male security guard that no antenatal care was given on Fridays.

After explaining her situation, that she had taken leave for the day to be there, and would not be able to take another day of leave, the security said she must go talk to reception and see what they can do.

She said the receptionist informed her that they would be able to assist her and that they understood her predicament.

A maternity register was opened for the woman, and she was then asked to go and get a queue number from this security guard.

“A person usually expects quite a long wait at any hospital or clinic, which is why I took a whole day’s leave.

The wait was expected, so it did not bother me. I just wanted assistance with antenatal care and the terrible UTI I was suffering from,” said the woman.

Around 16:00 she enquired if all the patients would be seen that were still there, as she was getting concerned as the clinic closes at 16:00.

She was told that everyone would be seen to who was there.

“Just after 16:00, after not being able to use a bathroom for the whole day – the bathrooms were in a bit of a state – and suffering from excruciating back pain by this point, I was incredibly relieved when it was finally my turn to see one of the nurses,” she told WITBANK NEWS.

It was at this moment that she had her first encounter with a nurse, and everything went south from there.

“Upon entering the consulting room, the nurse took one look at the maternal register and told me there was nothing they could do for me today and that I would have to come back the next week.

I asked what she meant by not helping me, as I had been waiting for six hours.

The nurse then abrasively told me that the staff taking blood samples had left already and that if I wanted help, I should have arrived earlier in the morning.”

The woman said she attempted to tell the nurse that they knew she was coming for antenatal care, but that wasn’t the only problem she was having.

“The nurse then started shouting and telling me to get out of the clinic. She took my handbag and slammed it down on the table. I asked if I could at least remove my sonar scan from the maternity register, as it was my only sonar.

I removed the scan and asked if I could keep my maternity register, as I would then try to go to another clinic.

The nurse then grabbed the papers out of my hands and screamed at me. I refused to leave as I needed help desperately with the UTI issue as well.”

The whole situation then turned into chaos according to the woman.

“It was at this point that the nurse went completely off the rails and bullied me back into the waiting area.

She started yelling at all the patients still waiting, that she was now closing the clinic and would not be attending to any more patients for the day, and blamed it all on me,” the woman explained.

The nurse then allegedly told the patients that if they wanted to be helped, they would have to remove the pregnant lady from the premises.

She apparently continued to hurl abuse at her in isiZulu.

The pregnant woman attempted to make a recording on her cellphone, but unfortunately, her cellphone had died.

The pregnant woman asked what the nurse’s name was, as she wanted to report her. When the nurse heard her asking, she allegedly stormed over to the lady and shouted at her, “My name is Mrs Thembi Nkosasana.”

“After receiving more verbal abuse, this time from the patients who had been riled up against me, I decided to leave for my and my daughter’s safety and decided that I would take this further as this is not how people should be treated,” the woman said.

On Tuesday, June 18, the woman, the clinic operations manager, and the delegated quality assurance for Emalahleni sub-district had a meeting at the clinic.

She was then asked to please identify which nurse it was, as there was no Thembi Nkosasana at the clinic – she had been given a false name.

When the nurse walked in, the pregnant lady identified her.

The nurse’s behaviour on the second encounter with the patient was allegedly just as aggressive and abrasive as the first encounter.

When she was probed as to why she tried to incite violence towards the woman from the other patients, her response allegedly was simply, “She reminded me I was supposed to be off already, and I wanted to go home.”

The clinic’s supervisor had another meeting with the pregnant woman on Wednesday, June 19, and was assured that the matter would be taken further and that investigations would be done.

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