The OFM News team has viewed an email from the concerned relatives of 68-year-old Christina Wilhelmina de Beer, directed to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelonomi, Baesi Ramodula, the Free State Premier, Health MEC, and the office of the Health Ombudsman, in which the family alleges not only have they been denied regular updates on the condition of the patient, but they maintain they are yet to be notified of a date for her procedure. The family says their concerns stem from the patient’s vulnerable state as a mentally and physically disabled woman, who has been cared for by relatives for all of her life. They say her being alone in a strange environment for such an extended period could prove to be detrimental, in addition to the possibility of her developing a condition known as ‘avascular necrosis’, which according to the Mayo Clinic is the death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply due to the delayed operation.

The Free State Health Department has, via its spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, stated that the 68-year-old woman is set to be operated on this week, but does not give a specific date. Mvambi assures the family and the public that Wilhelmina is being well cared for in the hospital’s orthopaedic unit. “The hospital has noted the concerns of the family who allege that they are not often informed about the clinical considerations of the staff that is treating the patient. The anxiety of the family is well understood after waiting for such a time as this patient has waited. 

"However, it should be generally accepted that the hospital has the best interests of patients at heart and staff do their best to give patients the necessary treatment that they deserve,” says the Health Department spokesperson.

In 2018, the hospital’s orthopaedic ward came under intense criticism when it was discovered that a shortage of functional operating theatres at Pelonomi had led to delays in operations. At that stage, there was such a backlog that there weren’t enough beds for all the patients needing surgery. Pelonomi management ended up moving some orthopaedic patients and surgeons to the Botshabelo District Hospital and Albert Nzula Hospital in Trompsburg so that they could lower the backlog. The latter two hospitals at the time didn’t have the medical personnel to perform these operations, but they did have available theatres.

It is yet to be determined what the cause of the delay is in operating on Wilhelmina’s upper leg/hip.

OFM News