HIGHVELD – Paulina Morapedi Clinic Committee has raised concerns over the safety of nurses and other staff members in Extension 19.
This came after nurses, working night shift, were assaulted by a member of the public. It is alleged that the community member was angered when the ambulance that was suppose to take his friend to the hospital arrived late.
According to the clinic committee this was not the first incident where nurses were victimised.
Gang members stormed the clinic in February and assaulted nurses in the labour ward where they were helping a woman in labour.
The gang allegedly barged into the labour ward and assaulted the nurses.
Security guards, who tried to stop the gangsters, were overpowered. The gangsters broke windows and stole boxes of condoms.
Ms Lottie Mkhwebane, clinic committee member, urged the community to refrain from victimising nurses.
She said locals struggled for a long time to have a clinic in Extension 19, but now that the clinic is there, the nurses are victimised.
The clinic also called on the Mpumalanga Department of Health to attend to the staff shortages in the clinic and to increase the number of ambulances in the area.
In another incident, residents of Bethal have criticised Bethal Hospital for poor service delivery.
Despite the recent upgrades of the hospital, local said they do not see any improvement in service delivery.
In Extension 14 a young couple is devastated after their baby died only minutes after a nurse allegedly told them that their baby was not ill.
The mother of the eight-month-old child took him to the Extension 14 clinic because he was struggling to breathe.
According to the mother, a whistle sounded when she rushed in with the baby, alerting the nurse to immediately attend to the child.
The mom was shocked when she was allegedly told to go home, because there was nothing wrong with the child.
When she told the nurses that her child had difficulty to breathe, a nurse allegedly questioned the mother’s knowledge on people struggling to breathe.
The mother was allegedly sent away with only pain medication, and the baby died on the way back home.
Concerned residents have confronted the clinic about this incident and accused the nurses of negligence.
They said they will take the matter up and hope justice will be served.
