MANIINI - A 51-year-old breast cancer survivor, who is staying in Maniini Village outside Thohoyandou, alleges she was ill-treated by young nurses at Tshilidzini Hospital a fortnight ago.

Mrs Phophi Makwarela Phalanndwa (51) was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2004 and underwent surgery in Tshilidzini Hospital in April this year. After the operation, the doctor told her that the stitches should be removed after a week. The young nurses who were instructed to remove the stitches left her alone until the next day when the operated area was swollen.

“Fearing that the doctor would be angry with them, they used force to remove the stitches, using a sharp object. Without mercy, they opened another wound in my breast area,” Mrs Phalanndwa said.

“When the doctor entered in the ward, the nurses apologized, telling him that they had been busy with other jobs and didn’t do the job on the date they were told,” she said.

“The next day, another young nurse came and discharged me unnecessarily, without the confirmation letter from the doctor,” she said. She was told that she had to consult the nearby clinic. “When preparing myself to go home, the doctor came and ordered me not to go home, because the young nurses had aggra-vated the wound in my breast area.”

“The doctor told me that I had to go to the OPD for more stitches, and now my right hand is swollen and I am unable to work,” she said.

Mrs Phalanndwa said she was then transferred to the Polokwane Hospital without a file containing the background of the operation and the results of the X-ray.

“Doctors in Polokwane Hospital did not attend to me, because the nurses left the file at Tshilidzini Hospital,” she said. “They also wrote a notice to Tshilidzini Hospital telling them that they had to forward the background information of the operation and the results of the X-ray,” she said.

“When I returned to Tshilidzini, looking for my file, the nurses told me that my file was lost,” she added.

She is now unable to work and and has no income. “If the hospital asks me to point out the nurses who ill-treated me, I can do that,” she said.

The liaison officer of Tshilidzini Hospital, Mr David Nemuhuyuni, said he had taken this issue to the Hospital Secretary, Mr Magwedzha Mphaphuli, for investigation. “The hospital is investigating these allegations,” said Mr Nemuhuyuni.