Patient’s wound becomes infected after operation at Rob Ferreira Hospital
For the second time in two months, yet another patient who was admitted with a ruptured appendix, had a horrific experience at the hands of the doctors in Rob Ferreira Hospital.
MBOMBELA – At 03:00 on Wednesday March 9, Engela Dehning (46), was rushed to hospital after experiencing extreme pain in her stomach.
“The paramedics said I might be suffering from a burst appendix, and they gave me a reference letter addressed to Rob Ferreira,” Dehning told Lowvelder. A doctor confirmed that the intense pain was due to a burst appendix. She said she was admitted and told that she had to undergo an operation to clean her abdominal cavity.
“The treatment I experienced from the theatre staff was great, and the doctor explained exactly what had to done during the operation. Among other things, they had to remove my intestines from the cavity to clean the infected area.”
When Dehning came round after the operation, she said she was informed the operation was a success and that the wound was stitched up.
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“On Friday morning I noticed a discolouration on the dressing. Without opening the dressing, a doctor said there was nothing to worry about. When I woke up on Saturday morning, the dressing was drenched in a brown-coloured fluid.”
Once again, a doctor said she should not be worried about the situation. Later in the day, Dehning said she experienced a “warm” feeling in the wound. Pus started leaking from it.
“When the dressing was removed, the doctor said I developed infection and a part of wound had opened. I was told the wound would have to be opened to clean it up.”
On Monday, she had a local anaesthetic and the stitches were removed. After cleaning the wound, a portavac was put in to drain the fluid. On Friday, the drain was removed, and without stitching up the 30 by 15 centimetre wound, she was discharged.
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“All I was told was to ensure the wound was cleaned and that I had to come back on Tuesday so it could be closed up.”
On Sunday, she noticed that infection was once again setting in.
“I was too scared to go back to the hospital. If they could not clean the wound properly, what type of treatment was I in for this week?” Dehning said. She visited a private doctor on Tuesday. He debrided (cut away) a bit of the dead tissue in the wound.
The wound was stitched up yesterday Wednesday 23 March. The department had not responded by the time of going to press.
