Johannesburg - A Soweto man who narrowly escaped death after a substation explosion says he has since suffered emotional scars from alleged abuse by nurses at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
Sifiso Mdluli was admitted to the hospital last Sunday after suffering second-degree electrical burns to his face and arms after an Eskom substation exploded in his face near his paternal home in Phefeni.
While Mdluli, 39, commended the hospital doctors and staff as being professional and principled in their treatment of him, he said it was only when he was moved to ward 8 of the hospital’s surgical section that his experience soured.
He described the treatment he received from the night shift nurses as “rude, callous, spiteful and abusive”, which had further traumatised him during a delicate and vulnerable time of his life.
In February, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi slammed bad nursing attitudes towards patients which had been reported in parts of the country. He stated that by the time the National Health Insurance came into effect, all nurses reported to have bad attitudes would be dumped from the system.
Speaking of his experience on Sunday, Mdluli said: “The first incident was on Wednesday evening. I had run out of a lubricant called Chloramex ophthalmic ointment, which does wonders for burns. I had been given three tubes from the previous ward, and the doctor had said if I wanted to heal, I needed to use the lubricant after washing my face. I went to the front desk to the nurses in tremendous pain and told them I needed the ointment.”
Mdluli was told that they were out of stock of the lubricant and would contact the ward he was transferred from to arrange that he get the antibiotic ointment. But two hours later, after waking from sleep in more pain, he found that the request had not been made.
It was around that time that he - as per his doctor’s instruction on his medical file - he was meant to be injected with Tramal for pain.
“On noticing that I was being ignored, I approached the said nurse to enquire if she had been able to arrange for the ointment. I was rudely dismissed and she proceeded to inform me that she was not under my employment, and that since the pharmacy was closed, there was nothing she could do.”
Mdluli said he then asked if he could go to the ward he was transferred from to fetch the ointment himself, to which the nurse allegedly said I could do as I please.
“In great discomfort, I went to ward 1, where I was graciously given three tubes of the ointment. I returned to my bed and waited for my pain injection. My primary physician had instructed the nursing staff of the frequency and intervals for the injection to be issued three times a day at eight-hour intervals,” he continued.
Mdluli said he again went to request the injection as he was in great pain, but was treated with disdain and told he was “not special” and would get his injection when the nurses did their rounds. He also alleged that he was told by the nurses that Bara was “not a private hospital” and that they (the nurses) “ruled the roost”.
Gauteng health spokesman Steve Mabona said they would be investigating and condemned behaviour “foreign” to their principles.
The Star