Hundreds picket outside dysfunctional Thelle Mogoerane Hospital
VOSLOORUS, FRIDAY 30th SEPTEMBER: Yesterday more than 500 members from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in Gauteng marched to Thelle Mogoerane Hospital to highlight the ongoing crisis facing the hospital and demand urgent intervention by the provincial health department.
For the last two years TAC members in Vosloorus have received ongoing reports of negligence, poor staff attitudes, overcrowded and dirty facilities, long waiting times, and even patients being turned away.
“The situation at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital is deplorable. People should feel safe and secure at the thought of a hospital. They shouldn’t fear for their lives if they are admitted. They shouldn’t wait all day for urgent emergency medical attention,” says Provincial Chairperson Fikile Mtsweni.
Of major concern are the long waiting times in the casualty ward. Often people wait many hours to be seen in emergency situations. In recent weeks, one person was taken to the hospital after collapsing in the local mall in the morning – they tragically died without being attended to by anyone for the entire day. Another individual was brought to the hospital with a shot wound to the head – after waiting from the morning to the evening, they were only admitted to a ward following pressure of the family members.
A shortage of doctors and nurses together with an undersized infrastructure is leading to poor health outcomes for patients. The wards are full. Patients can be seen sleeping on stretchers in the corridors or even on the floors. Overburdened nurses fail to attend to the patients. Negligence is rife as patients fall from beds without being assisted. Bed pans remain full. Sometimes people are turned away and told there is nothing that can be done for them.
The hospital made promises that it would hire more cleaners, yet to date the hospital is filthy. This is a major health risk for hospital borne infections.
“The hospital is totally dysfunctional,” Thandi Moloi a resident in the area said, “worse is that the staff in the hospital treat us badly. Instead of wanting to help us, they have terrible attitudes towards us. All in the most vulnerable moments of our lives.”
Further a recent survey by TAC Vosloorus branch showed that there are water leaks in the hospital and many computers and phones are not working.
TAC Gauteng delivered a memorandum to a representative from the provincial health department to demand urgent intervention on these issues. Despite meeting with the hospital CEO no changes have been seen. TAC will continue to monitor the situation.
For more information, contact:
Sibongile Tshabalala 074 741 6318
Portia Serote 071 825 3095
Stephen Ngcobo 073 846 0910
