A damning report carried out by FF+ has accused 93 healthcare institutions of gross human rights violations and a decline in services.
FF+ MP Philip van Staden, who led the team which carried out the report, said complaints ranged from medical procedures not being carried out, to patients having to sleep on the floor in the corridors of hospitals, and having to wait long hours – or even days – before being admitted or examined by a doctor.
Other complaints include sexual abuse committed by hospital staff and cases where patients were forced to lie in their own blood or urine for hours.
“In July 2022, the FF+ launched a campaign where we urged the public to come forward with their complaints about these public health institutions,” he said.
Four of seven the Eastern Cape hospitals pinpointed in the report are in Nelson Mandela Bay: namely Uitenhage, Livingstone, Dora Nginza and Port Elizabeth. The other three are East London’s Frere Hospital, Humansdorp Provincial Hospital and Andries Vosloo Hospital in Somerset East.
According to the report, one of the incidents took place at Uitenhage Hospital. A man brought his wife to the hospital on 25 August 2021 and signed in at about 4am.
“At about 5.27am, the sister called the [the man] and told him his wife had passed away,” the report states.
“The [man] asked to check on his wife. He said when he entered her room he immediately noticed blood on his wife’s head. He asked the sister why his wife’s head was bleeding because there hadn’t been blood on her head before.”
According to the report, the sister told him his wife had fallen off the bed and suffered a heart attack. The complainant questioned this, suspecting that his wife may have tried to get up and fallen due to dizziness. Later, the funeral services suspected negligence.
In another incident, a mother gave horrific details of how her son became brain-damaged at just five weeks old.
The woman said she had taken her child to Uitenhage Hospital in Kariega and just getting assistance proved challenging, all while the baby was battling to breathe. After persistent pleas, help arrived only when her child lost consciousness in her arms.
A week later, and despite the staffs’ insistance that the infant was just suffering from trapped wind, the hospital transferred the child to Dora Nginza Hospital, saying could do no more to help.
“The hospital said there was nothing more they could do for my baby. We didn’t get a bed for more than 17 hours. I was tired and fell asleep and when I woke up, my baby’s oxygen was off,” said the mother.
“I jumped up and went to see where the nurses were. It was a night shift and they were all sleeping under a blanket. Two days before we were discharged, they made a diagnosis that he had meningitis.”
She said her son is now almost four years old and it appears he has brain damage. “He does not speak. We have appointments for early November to confirm what we suspect. Then we will take it further with both hospitals,” she said.
Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth’s spokesperson, Mkhululi Ndamase, said they were aware of the report. “The department will study the report before commenting extensively on areas raised in the report,” he said.
The report has now been submitted to the SA Human Rights Commission for review.