Forced to wait for medical treatment

A heavily pregnant mother said she waited almost four hours for assistance at Newcastle Provincial Hospital in late April.

Colleen Coetzer and her husband, Eugene, reported that on the day of their fifth child’s birth on April 26, she went through an agonising experience, which left her feeling helpless.

Mrs Coetzer’s ordeal began with abdominal pains at about 1pm on the day.

After his wife exclaimed she might have gone into labour, Mr Coetzer took her to the Provincial Hospital, where they joined the rear of a very long queue of women who all awaited check-ups.

A while into their visit, the Coetzer family realised something was off.

“All the other women were helped, even those who came in after us. Eventually my wife was seen to, but they made her sit in the queue again.”

By 4pm, Mr Coetzer said hospital staff were still unwilling to assist his wife, who claimed the delay had been caused by there being only one heart monitoring device available.

In addition, Mrs Coetzer could not be admitted, as the on-duty doctor had not yet arrived.

“A supervisor just walked past us and the staff ignored us. At about 5.30pm, a nurse came by and said there was not much she could do to help.”

Once further scans had been completed, with the Coetzer family almost five hours into their hospital visit, staff reported Mrs Coetzer was only three centimetres dilated.

At 7.30pm, she gave birth to a baby boy, since christened Anthony.

“It’s obvious these staff had no idea what was going on. While we were waiting, another woman collapsed from the pain, and a stranger had to help her up.”

Mr Coetzer exclaimed the incident had completely soured his view of local medical services, and he admitted he would rather fork out for a spot at Mediclinic in future.

At least, he added, he was assured of his wife’s wellbeing.

“The hospital was much better before it became a mother and child facility.”

Asked for an expert opinion on the Coetzers’ situation, a local obstetrician said it was difficult to offer criticism beyond that medical staff should have assisted Mrs Coetzer as a priority.

Sitting in a queue for such a lengthy period of time was wrong, he explained.

“If she was in labour, she should have been pushed ahead and not made to wait.”

Responding to queries, hospital spokesman, Sabelo Buthelezi said the head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department wished to meet with the Coetzer family to first establish what exactly had happened.

The patient file would be retrieved and a meeting scheduled, before questions could be answered.

“The investigation needs to be conducted before the hospital can provide answers.”

In conclusion, Mr Buthelezi said that as a mother and child hospital, staff were committed to quality service delivery.