Johannesburg - Fezile Ngubentombi Hospital in the Free State has allegedly failed to conduct a coronavirus test on a patient with pneumonia and Covid-19 symptoms.
Kim Mashiqana, 36, claims her husband was admitted to the hospital on April 9. After a seven-day stay he told her he was going to be discharged.
Mashiqana says the hospital did a Covid-19 rapid test – with negative results. However, she was informed it was key for the hospital to take a swab to submit to the lab to double check as he had all the Covid-19 symptoms.
Mashiqana expressed concerns with the hospital, saying she’d been given the runaround when trying to get information on her husband’s condition. “On April 16, I received a phone call from my husband panicking that a doctor came to see him and told him he was going to be discharged and a second Covid-19 test was not necessary as he had been in hospital for almost 7 days.
Mashiqana said she had been embroiled in a back and forth with the hospital. Administrators called her to the hospital after she kept asking about her husband’s condition.
“Upon arrival the hospital administrator took me to ward 3, trying to calm me down, and called my husband so I could see him. At the same time a patient clinging to life was wheeled into the same ward in a bed while I was standing there,” she said.
After pestering the hospital’s administration, it was discovered that her husband’s results could not be found at any laboratory. The administrator reportedly promised her that another test would be done as soon as the night shift doctor arrived.
The following morning, on April 16, I was in contact via cellphone with my husband and a second Covid-19 test was not done. Instead, they did a second test for HIV and diabetes.
“At this point my husband had been in isolation ward 3 for 7 days. Other patients had been admitted. Others tested positive, other negative and moved to other wards, others discharged and others passed away.
“I question why my husband had not been (given) Covid-19 test results and why was he being discharged when his X-rays were viewed only on April 15 and the doctor indicated on the report (he) had severe pneumonia.”
Free State Department of Health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi confirmed that the patient was admitted with symptoms attributable to Covid19.
“A rapid test was conducted, with negative results. But based on clinical presentation the doctor decided to do a PCR test because the patient was not looking good. The patient was isolated while waiting for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results.”
Mvambi said post-admission X-rays were done and the patient was diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection which warranted close monitoring.
Mvambi denied that Mashiqana was allowed into the hospital’s Covid ward. “She was accorded the privilege to see the patient at a distance (which) did not allow contact; she did not gain entry into the Covid-19 ward.”
The Star