NZHELELE –

Victor Mavhungu of Khalavha Village arrived at Siloam Hospital at about 19:00 after a snake bit him in the thumb. He was in a critical condition as his right hand was already swollen. Upon arrival, nurses told his mother, Rendani, that there is no doctor who could attend to the boy. The driver who brought Victor to the hospital then forced the nurses to phone a doctor.

The doctor who received the call told the driver that he wanted to get permission from his wife, so that he could attend Victor. He eventually received attention form a doctor three hours after being admitted at the hospital.

A fortnight ago, a 46-year-old woman, whose name cannot be revealed to protect her identity, allegedly spent three days before receiving attention to her broken hand. During her arrival at the same hospital, she was told that the doctor was in the maternity ward, and that she would be attended to soon. She only received attention on the third day. When she asked why the service was so slow, while every hospital is supposed to endorse the Batho Pele (People First) principle, she got no satisfactory reply. The woman added that she had not experienced any Batho Pele at the Siloam hospital.

Our efforts to get a reaction from the Department of Health and Welfare in connection with the above-mentioned cases, proved fruitless.