Domestic worker dies, family blames hospital
The family say she was ill and very weak for over a month, but the hospital just sent her home with pills
An Elandslaagte farming family were recently devastated when their domestic worker, 43-year-old Martha Ngwenya, collapsed and died in front of them.
For the family, the death is a result of her being turned away by Ladysmith Provincial Hospital once too often.
“Martha was like a member of our family,” explained the farmers.
When she became ill, the family took her to various clinics and she was twice referred by the clinics to Ladysmith Provincial Hospital. The family say she was ill and very weak for over a month, but the hospital just sent her home with pills.
A month later, on July 24, she was rushed by ambulance from Matiwane Clinic with a referral letter stating that she needed immediate treatment. Everyone, including Martha, thought she would be admitted to hospital, but later in the day she phoned the family and told them they must come pick her up because the hospital would not admit her.
“The hospital is there to take care of people, but they seem to have a ‘don’t care’ attitude,” say the family.
The very next day, they got a call from Martha’s family that they must get an ambulance again to aid her, as she was battling to breathe. The farmers rushed to her home to pick her up in a bakkie, as an ambulance was waiting at Elandslaagte police station. When they got to her home, it was too late. She collapsed in front of them and died.
The farming family lashed out at the hospital, “It’s a disgrace how doctors treat patients. She worked for us for over eight years. Three times we tried to get her into hospital and they turned her away!”
The hospital responded that: After conducting our investigation, we find that this was an unavoidable death due to late presentation. Reasons for late presentation to hospitals and clinics are different. One might be poverty and lack of taxi fares; two might be fear of employers and too much sick leave, and therefore opt to be sick at work; three might be employers refuse to grant off-days to their employees; and lastly, the culture of consulting traditional healers.
We would like to encourage our communities to consult our facilities at an early stage of sickness and also for employers to give their employees time to go to clinics. “This battle is for all of us to fight,” adds hospital spokesperson Thabo Sithole.
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