There are fears that the Matatiele Tayler Bequest hospital is home of death. A number of people who are residing in Matatiele are saying that if you take a person to this hospital you must be sure he/she is not coming back alive. As a consequence of these allegations about this government hospital, that alone has inculcated fear amongst community members regarding high levels of a death rate. Although The Informer does not have statistics on the death rate but the situation as described and labeled by people who visited the place as being horrible. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) conducted an interview with the board and the management of the hospital described the situation as very pathetic and pitiful. Tumo Motapa, who is the leader of the EFF in the region said the problem with the hospital is perpetuated and propagated by the lack of doctors, inability to manage the spread of the disease, and the beaurucratic red tape by the Provincial government.
Sharone Bezuidenhout, a resident of Matatiele took her mother, Francina Nondabula to this hospital for a broken pelvis after falling down at home in the rural areas. She was admitted to the hospital for about 3 weeks before she was transferred to Bedford in Mthatha. But to their surprise Nondabula 86, was returned back the same day with a doctor’s report saying she is old and frail. This means that nothing was done to her. She died in hospital a week after. Bezuidenhout said they are soliciting legal advice to weigh options on whether it could be possible to sue the hospital as they feel their mother was neglected. At the same time Joseph Mabula, also a resident of Matatiele told The Informer that his wife Sphokazi Tenza, 45, was taken to Tayler Bequest after she was involved in a car accident. “She stayed in the hospital for 10 days under severe pains.
After confronting the management the wife was discharged from the hospital with a report that there is nothing wrong with her. Even the X-ray report did not detect any fracture”, said Mabula. He said, when his wife was at home the pains were not subsiding. I took her to Kokstad Usher Memorial hospital (another Government hospital) where it was discovered that her shoulder blade is fractured and her spinal cord dislocated. There was also a clot at her back. “I am shocked that the Tayler Bequest could not see the injuries sustained by my wife. The Usher Memorial hospital transferred my wife to King Edward hospital where she is awaiting surgery”, said Mabula. Mabula is disappointed with Tayler Bequest hospital and is wondering if such things can happen to those who have options how painful to those who regard Tayler bequest as the only place. A number of Matatiele residents are telling horrible stories about this hospital and are saying the situation has been like this for a long time.
Economic Freedom Fighters Findings
In their visit to the hospital, the EFF find out that there were various problems confronting the hospital, one case in point which is very fundamental is that currently, the very hospital is operating with (3) three doctors instead of (7) seven. Doctors are complaining that they are housed in small prefabs as a result most doctors are not staying for long. Amongst the three doctors, one of them is supposed to be supervised and the other one is going to be leaving shortly.
Wards are overflowing and patients are not separated according to their diseases and that makes it easy for (transmitting disease) one disease to spread to the others. Even those who are psychologically or mentally disturbed are mixed with other general patients. This is making it difficult for the staff to work and manage the diseases accordingly.
Beaurocratic red tape is also hampering and impeding the availability of medication because the last office to approve after many offices become the Provincial headquarters in Bisho offices, which causes all the orders made from the hospital to take very long.
X-Ray is not always functioning as much as it is also needing to be upgraded. There is an undisputed influx of patients from all 26 wards of the Matatiele Local Municipality to the hospital without visiting their clinics, as a first measure to avoid stamped, that alone renders the hospital to fail. Provincial Health Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo could not be reached to respond to this issue.
