Cape Town - A transgender patient’s battle to be recognised as a female at two state hospitals in Cape Town has sparked outrage amongst activists.
The patient, who has only been identified as Mrs N, is currently in an all-male ward at the DP Marais Hospital in Retreat.
She was moved there on Wednesday from Groote Schuur Hospital, where the debacle started, according to activists at the Triangle Project.
The Health Department investigated the allegations about the patient’s treatment at Retreat and denied the Groote Schuur allegations.
“Delivering patient-centred care means that each person visiting any facility must be treated with dignity and respect,” spokesman Luyanda Mfeka said.
Sharon Cox, the Triangle Project’s Health and Support Services manager, said this week N’s ordeal started on October 24 when the project’s home-based care programme staff took her to Groote Schuur’s emergency unit.
Cox and a nurse at the project, Carol Lennon, were with her. According to Cox, nursing staff at the unit referred to N by the male name recorded on her identity document.
They pointed out to the nurses that she no longer used that name.
The problem, Cox said, came about when one of nurses ignored the request and insisted on calling her by her male name. At one stage, a doctor in the unit had to intervene, she said.
“It may seem insignificant to others, but she has been transgender almost all her life.
“There was no need to be calling her by any name other than the one we were telling them to call her,” Cox said.
She said N was emotional and “extremely ill” at the time.
To add to N’s woes, she was also moved to an all-male isolation ward.
The Triangle Project took the issue to Lawyers for Human Rights, which wrote a letter to the hospital the following day.
It read: “We are instructed that your staff have refused to admit (Mrs N) to a female ward, as per her wishes, allegedly on the basis of hospital policy. We are further instructed the nursing staff persist in misgendering the patient through the use of the male pronoun.”
N was eventually moved to a private ward and the Triangle Project updated its Facebook page to say: “Several key staff at the hospital including the head of doctors, head of nursing and others personally apologised to our client.”
The issue resurfaced when N was moved to Retreat.
Staff there were not hostile at all, Lennon said, but seemed not to understand transgender issues.
The department told Weekend Argus the matter was investigated immediately at Groote Schuur, and the patient had been interviewed.
“The patient indicated that they suffered no discrimination or prejudice while at the facility.
“The patient did not raise any complaint against nursing staff or doctors she had interactions with while at the facility.
“Over and above this, a number of other interviews took place with staff on duty during the patient’s admission.
“No incidents were reported.”
However, Lennon disputed this, saying that she witnessed the incident herself.
She said N was confused in the state she was in and could not recall most of what had happened.
The Triangle Project intends to engage fully with the department to ensure that transgender men and women were treated with dignity in the future.
The department encouraged people to raise concerns directly with facility managers.
Weekend Argus