The truth behind baby J’s troubles

There is more to his story than meets the eye.

Baby Joshua’s proverbial ‘fairy tale’ may have had a happy ending, but Thea van Tonder recently disclosed how touch-and-go it really was.

The day baby ‘J’ showed the first signs of sickness, Ms van Tonder rushed him to Newcastle Provincial Hospital. As previously stated in the Newcastle Advertiser, Joshua began choking on his vomit and suffered from severe diarrhoea.

After pleading with the nurses on duty to help him, a doctor allegedly said ‘then he must stop breathing’. Dumbfounded by their apparent lackadaisical attitude towards their jobs, Ms van Tonder stuck her finger down Joshua throat in an attempt to free his airway.

After treating him with an antibiotic injection and some Panado hours later, the family could finally take baby ‘J’ home.

“The next day I left him to rest. I thought because they gave him an injection he needed sleep to recover.”

On the third day, a local doctor told Ms van Tonder her son was teething. Unable to comprehend how serious the symptoms of teething seemed, she purchased Smecta and rehydrates in powder form.

“I just couldn’t get him to drink it. I was the second day he hadn’t been feeding.”

On May 24, Ms van Tonder consulted with a doctor who tended to patients after hours. It was then determined Joshua had contracted a viral infection.

“The doctor gave him an injection to stop the vomiting and runny stool. About ten minutes later, my son started getting fits.” In fear of losing her precious boy, Ms van Tonder hightailed it to MediClinic Newcastle, without a second thought as to the costs involved.

After undergoing blood tests, doctors concluded Joshua was allergic to the injection administered just minutes before.

“The staff struggled to find a vein, but managed to insert a drip in his arm to reverse the effects of the injection,” she explained. “They then told me he had to be admitted.”

As reality hit her like a ton of bricks, Ms van Tonder realised she did not have the funds to admit Joshua to the private hospital. “One of the doctors on duty actually took my son to the provincial hospital in his own car. If his condition wasn’t serious, why would the doctor have done that?”

Baby ‘J’ was admitted to high care and at midnight, the nurses on duty allegedly gave all the tiny patients in the ward a 10 millilitre dosage of a foreign red liquid.

“The staff on duty put the lights off and went to sleep. I used the light from my cell phone screen to tend to my child. He still hadn’t eaten anything and his stool had turned black.”

At 8am the following day, nurses again treated the babies with the red fluid.

“I asked them what it was and they said Allergex. I threw Joshua’s dosage in the dustbin.” At that stage, Ms van Tonder thought Joshua had passed away.

“He was like jelly and his skin had turned grey. His eyes were pitch black and had begun to sag.”

Expressing her displeasure at the treatment received, Ms van Tonder said nurses did not assist any of the patients in Joshua’s ward.

A miracle from above

“The next moment there were people there from a local construction company. They rushed him to the private hospital and paid for his bed there.”

After being admitted for two days, Joshua showed great improvement and he was later discharged. Thanking staff for looking after baby ‘J’ to the best of their ability, Ms van Tonder said her intention to tell her son’s story in the local media was pure.

“If Joshua’s story can help save other children, I would be so happy! Many people rely on the services of the provincial hospital because they don’t have medical aid. I want management to replace staff or train them properly. They need to be passionate about nursing!” she exclaimed.

Ms van Tonder hopes qualified people will be employed to assist nurses and doctors in the near future.

“How would you feel if this happened to your child?” said Ms van Tonder.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health was yet to respond at the time of publication.

However, the Honourable Premier of KZN, Senzo Mchunu complimented Newcastle’s Paediatric Outpatient Department staff at the official opening of the Dannhauser Community Health Centre on May 27.

“Women and children are really receiving quality healthcare especially with the availability of a highly qualified and committed Paediatric doctor who even goes out to assist in the whole of Amajuba Health District facilities,” concluded Mr Mchunu.