No doctors to attend to the sick
March 9th, 2011
Yesterday I took my brother who was not feeling well to the hospital, and counted the minutes turning to hours as time passed with no doctor in sight. The nurses were aloof and I felt like exploding.
My brother was in pain and six hours passed with no treatment. We were told that doctors only attended to serious cases but as I watched the sick lying on the floor like discarded biltong I was disgusted.
For how can people be so indifferent to the sick? The doctors want money and we the people do not have the cash. Cash or no cash health is a right, so I argued but the nurses cared less.
The nurses told us that, doctors spent more time at their private surgeries than at the public hospital which the majority of people can afford.
Even though doctors are not formally on strike it seems as they are indeed demonstrating, except only to the wrong people.
Tired after six hours the doctor came and gave us a prescription because the hospital had no drugs. Shocked I took my brother home and vowed not to return to a public hospital again.
Just as myself, fellow citizens have lost faith in the health sector, where there are no drugs and doctors are hard to find even when they are said to be on duty. For the poor though there is no reprieve from unconcerned public health facilities as private hospitals are simply out of reach of the majority of our people.
So much for taking an oath to care for the sick.
