Pontsho Lebele (25) from Kagiso was admitted to Leratong Hospital two weeks ago.
A few days later, Lebele was transferred to Selby Hospital in Johannesburg.
Last Friday, she was struggling to breathe, seriously so. Selby Hospital doesn’t have the machine to aid her to breathe. So the hospital decided that she should go back to Leratong.
Lebele waited for an ambulance from eleven in the morning until late in the night. When we left Selby Hospital at 10pm, the ambulance hadn’t arrived.
It only arrived at 11pm.
When the paramedics were busy putting Lebele on a stretcher, she lost the battle and passed on. May her soul rest in peace. The ambulance went back without her.
There is no guarantee that had the ambulance arrived early, she still would be alive. But who knows? However, for her to wait for an ambulance for twelve hours is poor service delivery.
The story of Lebele has not made headline news because she is unknown. But it is sad that she died in hospital waiting for an ambulance, which took twelve hours to arrive.
How many more people should die this way?
