Pretoria - Reports in the Pretoria News of unexplained deaths of patients at Steve Biko Hospital have opened a can of worms, with families coming forward to tell their tales of sadness and pain.
They spoke of being treated with contempt by nurses, who stripped patients of their dignity and disrespected them in full view of other patients.
“I could hear her screams. When I asked what was happening, the nurses became irritated and displayed a negative attitude,” Brenda Msimango said of her experience in 2013 at the hospital.
She had rushed her niece to the hospital for possible meningitis, and said the agony while waiting in a queue, with the girl screaming in pain while banging her head against the wall, was too much to bear.
They alleged the nurses ignored them and, after a few hours, they saw the doctor who sent them to radiology for a lumbar puncture. A few minutes later, to Msimango's surprise, her niece was discharged and sent to the pharmacy.
The 29-year-old woman developed complications and died at the hospital’s neuro ward two days later.
“The treatment and nurses’ attitude hurt. The lack of information was unforgivable,” she said.
Msimango’s sentiments are shared by Sunnyside mother, Nolly Phosa, who delivered a stillborn baby at the hospital in January. “I was called old and lazy by the nurses.”
The woman, 44, was told her baby was in distress, and she had to push harder.
“But their harsh words, their hands smacking my bottom and the tones they used when talking about my exhaustion broke me down.”
Her baby was stillborn and the two days of labour were in vain.
She laid a complaint and followed it up for at least a month.
“I realised I would get no answers,” she said.
The attitude of Steve Biko Hospital's nurses has come to the attention of the office of Health Standards Compliance. It has demanded a meeting with hospital management and mooted an investigation.
Acting head of the government body, Bafana Msibi, said they would consider referring the matter to the health ombudsman once they had looked into it. They could involve the nursing council and health professions council if circumstances pointed to misconduct, he said.
Other patients took to social media, posting pictures of sick and tired patients, some with cardiac problems and others with blood dripping from their heads, spending over 12 hours on steel benches.
“Nurses ignore our suffering while they have coffee and muffins or a nap,” Peter Steyn wrote.
Sandy Choate called the treatment of patients at the hospital inhumane, asking: “How can you let people with broken bones go days without surgery, be exposed to blood on floors and rude nurses.”
Other hospital visitors complained of being refused water and assistance, or said they were kept waiting by nurses for information, medication and treatment.
“They are the devils in white referred to by the health minister (Dr Aaron Motsoaledi),” David Noah said on the treatment of his cousin Juanita at the hospital. She died only hours after the family enjoyed light moments at a ward in the hospital. The family and nurses had clashed over a bed pan. When she died, the anger and scorn by the nurses came back to haunt the Noahs.
The Health Department last week failed to answer the complaints by patients whose questions, treatment and sudden deaths had gone unanswered for months.
Pretoria News