DRIEKOP – The patient who claimed to be ill-treated at the Dilokong Hospital has not undergone an operation. Mr David Ward (34) had been sent from pillar to post by the Limpopo Department of Health.
Steelburger/Lydenburg News reported on Ward being booked for an operation on March 19, but to this day he has not had surgery on his fractured leg.
The resident of Madipaneng Village said he had sustained the injury during a car accident on February 19. Since then he’s had to endure maltreatment and neglect at the hands of the staff at Dilokong.
Ward claimed that because of this, his wounds only worsened. He said his back slab was changed only once since being admitted.
“The doctors booked the operation five times before, but I had to be taken to Mankweng for surgery as there was no proper medical equipment at Dilokong.
On three occasions, I was left behind as hospital management had told me there was no transport. I travelled to Mankweng twice and was told there were no beds,” Ward explained.
He alleged that it had a been a month and two weeks since he was admitted and he had not yet undergone surgery.
Ward told the paper that he complained to the hospital’s CEO, whose response was that he wanted a special attention. “I wrote to the CEO, Ms MM Mashishi about the maltreatment at Dilokong and what I was told at Mankweng.
She first apologised and told me she would look into it, but she recently accused me of seeking special attention. I don’t want any extraordinary treatment, I queue like other patients. All I ask for is proper medical care.”
According to Ward, some of the nurses were seen working without name tags most of the time.
He claimed that one of them, who was related to some of the hospital’s top management told him his injury was not serious and he would be discharged without undergoing surgery.
The paper, however, discovered has a fractured leg and needed bed rest.
At the time of going to print, the spokesman for Dilokong Hospital, Mr William Makola was not available for comment. The provincial spokesman for health, Ms Adele van der Linde’s phone rang unanswered.
