Before I post the link to NHI bill which has just been passed here...read this account from a person that used State medical care recently....
Had to go to Steve Biko after I was diagnosed with Cancer last year. Took more than a month to get a bed in high care for an operation to remove the 15 cm tumor.
I woke up after a two hour torture session while some incompetent retard tried to get a epidural into my spine, after six hours of OR time, with nothing done to remove the tumor. Only thing they did do ws destroy my life by giving me a colostomy (which costs me more than R600 a month to **** in a bag)
The hospital did not have hot water, the nursing staff was rude all the time, some days did not get the correct food for my diet that I needed to avoid blockages. The toilets were in a state of disrepair with some doors not being able to be closed or locked. Most wards has a single TV in the room and from 06h00 to about 22h00 it had to be on and as loud as it could go the whole time on some backwards TV channel (I don’t have a TV or watch TV)
After the ordeal I was sent to the oncology department. Standing in line from 05h00 in the morning to be able to see the doctors. Having to wait from 06h00 to 08h00 for a blood sample to be taken and sent for testing. Then the wait for the results and then to see the doctor (would see the doctor at 11h00 some days depending on how many patients were pushed in-front of you)
The treatment that I received caused nerve damage to my hands and feet. 4 months later I still don’t have feeling in my fingers and toes. I have damage to my arm when the one nurse pushed an IV while it was not in the vein. So have a hole in my arm caused by the chemo. Then the top point... the chemo treatment was not the correct treatment. The oncologist said the things that I need the state can’t provide.
I am just glad we are on a medical aid at the moment. I am getting stunning treatment from my oncologist. Taken off the drugs that caused my nerve damage to my hands, and put on treatment that was planed for me and me alone.
I was informed that the stoma was unneeded and will be reversed as soon as I go for the removal of the tumor to lessen the expensive load to the medical aid. It is better to do one operation than two, and will lessen the time that I will need to be in hospital.
The state can’t even do the basics right. How the hell do these incompetent idiots think they can do the NHS thing? The only thing they can do is screw things up. They can’t even get the basics right. The hospital is run by people who can’t do the job. Just look at the amount of times Steve Biko made the news in the past month!
And their bloody IT systems are still on XP, and had a crap load of time wasted waiting for their useless IT team to replace broken computers with systems from the scrap yard. And then having to wonder if they might have your file at hand if you need to see a doctor because they lost my paperwork 3 times. So I have some 3 files in the system.
Doctors, nurses, dentists and hospitals will treat everyone, choosing them based on how sick they are, rather than their ability to pay, says Dr Zweli Mkhize