South Africa: Patients suffer under appallingly filthy conditions in Ermelo Provincial Hospital
Between 29 August and 3 September Antoinette traveled to Ermelo South Africa, from abroad to visit her very ill younger brother.
Her brother was lying in the Ermelo Provincial Hospital’s men’s High Care Ward. Her experience however was not pleasant. Antoinette came face to face with a scene some have only seen in the movies. “Ermelo as I remember it, used to be this quaint, clean and beautiful little town about 25 years ago. I am sure many of your readers will remember it that way. Nobody could prepare me for the sight that would accost me on my arrival.”
Antoinette described her horror tale in an email: “After parking on a dusty unsurfaced area, we walked toward the ward areas which passed by the entrance of the ER, where used sanitary products were lying about and a child was playing with one of these filthy and bloodied products. In the corridor leading to the men’s wards, we had to step over several bloodied pieces of gauze and plasters before arriving at the men’s high care ward.”
According to Antoinette the conditions the patients were in were terrible, and the staff didn’t try to make it better. “The staff was totally and utterly uninterested in doing even their basic tasks, they obviously had no idea what a nurse’s job description was and just lounged back in their chairs behind the nurses station, having private conversations on their mobile phones and with each other whilst ignoring patients basic needs. There was a lot of shouting and loud conversations going on in the passage by hospital staff, and I’m not sure how the sick ever got any rest. When I did manage to speak to a couple of these so-called nurses, they could not answer even the basic questions regarding my brother’s care and he had been booked in a week before my arrival. On getting an opportunity to speak to the nurse in charge, she was just as bad if not worse, and she would not communicate with me.
I witnessed a doctor order a ‘soft diet’ for a patient and the staff could not even deliver on such a simple request. The patient was hardly able to walk but the staff expected the patient to collect their own stool sample with no help forthcoming. The hospital has posters on the walls that explain and talk about the respect and dignity that the patients deserve. These seem to be sentiments that the staff doesn’t grasp, in fact they go out of the way do the opposite. I even witnessed these so-called nurses laughing at a patient struggling to walk.”
Antoinette took pictures of the conditions the patients at the hospital stayed in, while she was there. “Staff just left empty used medical containers on the floor and used syringes with needles still attached on the food stand. Bloodied gauze, dirty clothing and cigarette buds among other things lying on the floors. I had been trying to keep my younger brother’s section clean for a number of days, which was not what I wanted to do at this stage. I was trying to spend a little quality time with my very sick dying brother. However, every time we arrived for visiting the dish with the watery blackish-greenish vomit fluid was full, so I had to empty it and wash it or fetch a new one from the sluice room myself. I also had to clean vomit from the floor as no staff who would do it. If that was not bad enough, on another occasion the cleaner was busy collecting used stuff and instructed me to just empty the dish, well I just couldn't help myself and just said “ you just do it now, I have been doing your job for the past four days!”. Not very nice I know, but well deserved as far as I am concerned.
The hospital lacked basic necessities such as cleanliness and order and good management. The dirt on the beds and drip stands could only be an accumulation of many years without cleaning. No clean bed linen or blankets and no access for patients to call for help. In fact there is no process or basic equipment or it seems no qualified staff to make a patient comfortable, let alone care for an unwell person. This hospital and the behavior of its staff is utterly disgusting and totally unacceptable and I can certainly say that the conditions in Australian prisons and refugee facilities are a hundred percent better in comparison with this so called “hospital.” I do not understand how any doctor anywhere in the world can tolerate this filth and appalling unprofessional behavior. I have been in many countries and nurses and doctors usually work by strict ethics. I have never seen or experienced this type of abhorrent behavior by medical staff anywhere else. In the past twenty years there has been no improvement in the health system but rather a very quick decline. Hopefully in the near future, the hard-working South African’s tax money will be better spent, perhaps on improving public health care facilities.” Antoinette concluded in saying that her heart goes out to those hard working South Africans that cannot afford health insurance.
This is not the first time the Ermelo Provincial Hospital has come under the spotlight. Previous articles have exposed similar experiences in the past. Since the events of this article took place Antoinette’s brother has passed away. “It kills me to look at these photos and it’s very difficult to deal with the images that keep popping into my mind all the time. I am very frustrated with this situation, I hope this article will get some attention and possibly improve the situation, it will help me deal with my grieving process and the psychological trauma I suffered along with my family.”
The Tribune tried, on numerous occasions, to contact officials at the Department of Health since Thursday, 1 October. No reply was received at the time of print. HB
The photos show Antoinette’s brother lying on what seems to be an old thin mattress. The floor of the room is stained with filth, while a large crack runs along the wall. The second photo shows the bathroom that has discarded cigarette buds and dirty clothing scattered on the floor, with what looks like a used adult diaper in the sink. On third photo is a discarded drip lying at Antoinette’s feet.
Between 29 August and 3 September Antoinette traveled to Ermelo South Africa, from abroad to visit her very ill younger brother.
Her brother was lying in the Ermelo Provincial Hospital’s men’s High Care Ward. Her experience however was not pleasant. Antoinette came face to face with a scene some have only seen in the movies. “Ermelo as I remember it, used to be this quaint, clean and beautiful little town about 25 years ago. I am sure many of your readers will remember it that way. Nobody could prepare me for the sight that would accost me on my arrival.”
Antoinette described her horror tale in an email: “After parking on a dusty unsurfaced area, we walked toward the ward areas which passed by the entrance of the ER, where used sanitary products were lying about and a child was playing with one of these filthy and bloodied products. In the corridor leading to the men’s wards, we had to step over several bloodied pieces of gauze and plasters before arriving at the men’s high care ward.”
According to Antoinette the conditions the patients were in were terrible, and the staff didn’t try to make it better. “The staff was totally and utterly uninterested in doing even their basic tasks, they obviously had no idea what a nurse’s job description was and just lounged back in their chairs behind the nurses station, having private conversations on their mobile phones and with each other whilst ignoring patients basic needs. There was a lot of shouting and loud conversations going on in the passage by hospital staff, and I’m not sure how the sick ever got any rest. When I did manage to speak to a couple of these so-called nurses, they could not answer even the basic questions regarding my brother’s care and he had been booked in a week before my arrival. On getting an opportunity to speak to the nurse in charge, she was just as bad if not worse, and she would not communicate with me.
I witnessed a doctor order a ‘soft diet’ for a patient and the staff could not even deliver on such a simple request. The patient was hardly able to walk but the staff expected the patient to collect their own stool sample with no help forthcoming. The hospital has posters on the walls that explain and talk about the respect and dignity that the patients deserve. These seem to be sentiments that the staff doesn’t grasp, in fact they go out of the way do the opposite. I even witnessed these so-called nurses laughing at a patient struggling to walk.”
Antoinette took pictures of the conditions the patients at the hospital stayed in, while she was there. “Staff just left empty used medical containers on the floor and used syringes with needles still attached on the food stand. Bloodied gauze, dirty clothing and cigarette buds among other things lying on the floors. I had been trying to keep my younger brother’s section clean for a number of days, which was not what I wanted to do at this stage. I was trying to spend a little quality time with my very sick dying brother. However, every time we arrived for visiting the dish with the watery blackish-greenish vomit fluid was full, so I had to empty it and wash it or fetch a new one from the sluice room myself. I also had to clean vomit from the floor as no staff who would do it. If that was not bad enough, on another occasion the cleaner was busy collecting used stuff and instructed me to just empty the dish, well I just couldn't help myself and just said “ you just do it now, I have been doing your job for the past four days!”. Not very nice I know, but well deserved as far as I am concerned.
The hospital lacked basic necessities such as cleanliness and order and good management. The dirt on the beds and drip stands could only be an accumulation of many years without cleaning. No clean bed linen or blankets and no access for patients to call for help. In fact there is no process or basic equipment or it seems no qualified staff to make a patient comfortable, let alone care for an unwell person. This hospital and the behavior of its staff is utterly disgusting and totally unacceptable and I can certainly say that the conditions in Australian prisons and refugee facilities are a hundred percent better in comparison with this so called “hospital.” I do not understand how any doctor anywhere in the world can tolerate this filth and appalling unprofessional behavior. I have been in many countries and nurses and doctors usually work by strict ethics. I have never seen or experienced this type of abhorrent behavior by medical staff anywhere else. In the past twenty years there has been no improvement in the health system but rather a very quick decline. Hopefully in the near future, the hard-working South African’s tax money will be better spent, perhaps on improving public health care facilities.” Antoinette concluded in saying that her heart goes out to those hard working South Africans that cannot afford health insurance.
This is not the first time the Ermelo Provincial Hospital has come under the spotlight. Previous articles have exposed similar experiences in the past. Since the events of this article took place Antoinette’s brother has passed away. “It kills me to look at these photos and it’s very difficult to deal with the images that keep popping into my mind all the time. I am very frustrated with this situation, I hope this article will get some attention and possibly improve the situation, it will help me deal with my grieving process and the psychological trauma I suffered along with my family.”
The Tribune tried, on numerous occasions, to contact officials at the Department of Health since Thursday, 1 October. No reply was received at the time of print. HB
The photos show Antoinette’s brother lying on what seems to be an old thin mattress. The floor of the room is stained with filth, while a large crack runs along the wall. The second photo shows the bathroom that has discarded cigarette buds and dirty clothing scattered on the floor, with what looks like a used adult diaper in the sink. On third photo is a discarded drip lying at Antoinette’s feet.
