Give praise but also highlight bad at hospital

CYRIL FARR of Monument Road writes:

It was heartening to read Past Bill Steyn’s letter in Kempton Express alluding to the excellent medical attention he recently received at Tembisa Hospital.

There are in fact many dedicated and wonderful medical staff tending to their grateful patients at our state hospitals, working under extremely trying conditions of overcrowding, long hours and lack of equipment and medicines.

We owe them a huge debt of gratitude and there is surely a special place reserved for them in heaven. It would be an injustice to paint all hospitals and medicos with the same brush.

However, we must not ignore the other side of horrific neglect which was described in previous correspondence, that cited Tembisa Hospital as the most dangerous facility in Gauteng. Not my words, but the words of the former Gauteng health MEC, Hope Papo.

So ideally, we should be balanced and give rich praise where it is due, as in the instance of Past Steyn’s superior service received. But conversely, we also need to hold the feet to the fire of doctors and nurses who shame the noble medical profession with their negligence and malpractice.

Otherwise the situation will never improve and the maltreatment will become the norm, completely submerging the excellence Past Steyn experienced. Thanks to Kempton Express for providing such a valuable platform to highlight both good and bad service.

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Tembisa is Gauteng’s most dangerous hospital