No help for crash victim at Tembisa Hospital

AN accident victim who waited for hours at Tembisa Hospital without receiving medical attention is recovering well at another government hospital.

Michelle Cornellissen (57) was seriously injured on Thursday last week when her car crashed into a pole on Pomona Road.

The Brakpan woman was on her way to work in Spartan when the accident occurred just after Boundary Silk Bazaar some time before 8am.

The woman’s ex-husband, Steve Nigrini, said she had an epileptic fit while driving, lost control of the car, a white Hyundai i10, and hit a street pole.

“The impact sent her flying out of the passenger window of the car. The car then overturned and fell on top of her,” Nigrini said.

“A taxi driver, his three passengers and a guy driving a breakdown vehicle all stopped to help and lifted the car off of her.”

Paramedics arrived minutes later and took her to Tembisa Hospital. She was there by 8am.

Cornellissen was joined by her son and Nigrini’s wife at the hospital, who waited by her side for a doctor to see her. The severely injured patient waited for hours, bleeding and coughing up blood. By 1pm, she was still waiting to be treated.

“My son and wife took photos of her at the hospital but security guards made them delete them,” said Nigrini.

He proceeded to explain the distress the family endured trying to secure Cornellissen proper medical treatment.

“After not being treated at all, I called a friend who owns an ambulance service and asked him to help out. The ambulance took her to Life Dalview Hospital in Brakpan where we were told to pay R2 000 before they could assess her, which we did.”

Then, according to Nigrini, a woman from this private hospital later called him and said they had to pay R200 000 upfront before they could help her.

Since they couldn’t afford this, they fetched her again and took her to Sunshine Hospital, also a private facility, in Benoni. Cornellissen finally received proper medical care for the first time since the crash.

“As soon as we arrived at the hospital she was immediately attended to, no questions asked. They washed her and stitched her up without asking for money upfront.”

Cornellissen received stitches in her head, nose and eyes. A full body scan was also done, which resulted in her needing to be put onto ventilators.

“The doctors explained to us that she might be bleeding internally and needed to be put on ventilators, but these could cost hundreds of thousands of Rands, which I didn’t have. They advised us to take her to the Far East Rand Hospital.”

Nigrini and Cornellissen’s son then settled the hospital bill before they left.

Cornellissen was admitted to the Far East Rand Hospital in Springs where she is now recovering and receiving treatment.

Nigrini updated EXPRESS after the family visited her on Friday afternoon, stating that Cornellissen would be visited by a dietician as she was having difficulty stomaching food and was still coughing and vomiting blood. A specialist was also scheduled to assess her condition.

“She was still in a lot of pain and her face was still very swollen. She also couldn’t really talk and just mumbled a few words here and there. But we are happy with the treatment she received at Sunshine Hospital as well as the current treatment here at the Far East Rand Hospital,” Nigrini said.

An enquiry regarding the matter has been sent to Tembisa Hospital.