Hospital undergoes crisis after power outage

DILOKONG – “There is no water or electricity at Dilokong Hospital. The patients are not receiving any food. We were told by a nurse to provide our own food and water for my cousin who was admitted on Monday after suffering a minor stroke,” said Thabo*.

He alleged after visiting his cousin in hospital on Tuesday they decided to rather take her home because of the poor service she had been receiving. “She would die under the care of that place. Everyone in my village speaks badly about the hospital and after the experience we had there I feel exactly the same,” he said.

Thabo said when they arrived at the hospital his cousin complained about the “non-existent service” and after speaking to a nurse they “had had enough”. “The worse part of this dilemma was when the nurse told me that the doctor couldn’t attend to my cousin because doctors can’t work in the dark,” said Thabo.

He alleged that in the 24 hours since her admittance, the doctor only seen her once when she was admitted.

According to the spokesman for Limpopo Department of Health, Ms Adelle van der Linde, the hospital suffered a power outage on Monday.“When the generator kicked in the switch broke where after the provincial team rushed to the hospital to attend to the matter. Several critical patients were then transferred to Mecklenburg Hospital.”

Van der Linde asked what ward the patient was admitted to when the incident happened and explained that if and when a patient was in casualty no food was received until they were transferred to another ward. “This is because patients do not normally stay there for long before being transferred and in a lot of different cases patients can’t eat and drink because of medical reasons.”

She urged unhappy patients to contact the toll-free hotline where they could complain. She said, “Without complaints no steps can be taken against guilty parties. If we don’t know who provided a patient with bad service then we can’t do anything about it. Patients or relatives can also complain to the nursing manager, clinical manager and the CEO of the hospital. If they can’t provide the patient with clarity they can then contact the department where they will be assisted.”

The toll-free hotline number is 0800-91-91-91 and complainants have the option of anonymity.

Thabo thanked Steelburger/Lydenburg News after explaining the situation to him and vowed to contact the hotline.

* not his real name as he wishes to remain anonymous out of fear of being intimidated.