Oversight visit sheds light on shocker

The cancer ward at the Polokwane Provincial Hospital, ward Q, holds little if any comfort for patients accommodated there as it has no warm water nor heaters. Built from asbestos it also offers an unhealthy respiratory environment for cancer patients.
A press release issued by the Democratic Alliance (DA) following an oversight visit by a party delegation on Tuesday has revealed the shameful state of affairs.
Members of the delegation, led by DA Provincial Chairperson Langa Bodlani and Provincial Spokesperson Solly Malatsi, reportedly professed to be “shocked by the crumbling state of Ward Q.”
The ward reportedly currently hosts 18 cancer patients who are undergoing radiation treatment at the hospital. “The five nurses who are responsible for the ward have resorted to using a 20 litre container to warm water for the patients who have to take rounds to use the two baths in the ward,” the press release stated.
Both male and female patients are accommodated in this single ward which doesn’t have curtains in front of the windows thus exposing their privacy to lurking homeless people who are stationed behind the ward. No resuscitation equipment is available should the patient’s condition deteriorate nor is there a readily available medical doctor on-site. There are no wall-oxygen units in the ward either, Bodlani reported.
The ward is in a secluded place which gets very dark at night making it difficult to transport patients by stretcher to the casualty section.  This situation has reportedly persisted for some time now, even though efforts were made to report it to hospital management.
“This is a tertiary institution in the province and yet it cannot properly maintain severely ill patients on chemotherapy.  This is a clear sign of complete neglect by a government which has lost any claim to care for patients,” Bodlani states.
He said the DA will be urging the Health Portfolio Committee to urgently visit this ward to see for itself the deplorable conditions under which the sick are housed. “MEC Phophi Ramathuba must be summonsed as a matter of urgency to give account of the steps her department is going to take to remedy this.”
Enquiries made with Derick Kganyago, Spokesperson for the Department of Health elicited the following response:
“Please note that Ward Q is an old hostel. The infrastructure is also old and the pipes there are mostly damaged and leaking and cannot be used. As a measure to have warm water for our patients, we are using an urn to boil water. We are planning to install geysers as a permanent solution. This being an old hostel, it does not have wall oxygen but the ward is using cylinders. There are two oxygen cylinders and an emergency trolley. They are fully functional and it is not true that we don’t have resuscitation equipment.”
He said some windows in the ward do not have curtains.
“We are prioritising this ward as part of our plan to fix this problem in most areas or wards in the hospital.”

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: DA Provincial Chairperson Langa Bodlani.