She told OFM News that she was diagnosed with flu and an allergic reaction earlier this month and was admitted to a room in the general ward where the conditions were horrible. She was later diagnosed with a lung infection. Mosime says there was no electricity and the lights in the bathroom did not work. One ward had a leaking roof and when she complained about the situation she ended up being moved three times.

“So I was moved to the surgical ward. On Friday, the matron came to me again and she requested to move me again, for the third time. Remember I am a patient, I’m sick and I have a lung infection. By then, as they keep moving me, my poor doctor does not even know what’s happening with me, why am I being taken up and down the hospital. Every time he wants to find me he needs to look for me first. He leaves me here today and later he finds me somewhere else," said Mosime.

The general manager at Netcare Pelenomi Private Hospital, Tefo Ramanamane, said in response to questions from OFM News, an effort was made by hospital staff and senior management of the hospital to address the various concerns Mosime raised. According to Ramanamane, they could find no merit in some of the complaints.

Mosime said she was later moved to the psychiatric ward. She said patients in the psychiatric ward gets treated differently and go to bed at nine. She said she needs to be attended to and monitored throughout the night, but no one could do that for her. One evening she was short of breath and could hardly breathe. She could not call anyone as there were no bell or care request devices available.

Ramanamane says the concerns ranged from a lack of warm water to in-progress maintenance work at the hospital, to the cooking style of the hospital’s catering company. He, however, admitted that maintenance in certain parts of the hospital had to be placed on the back-burner because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ramanamane said they are hard at work to ensure that any outstanding maintenance issues are addressed as a matter of priority.

OFM News spoke to the Public Service Commissioner in the Free State, Henk Boshoff, who said he informed the Head of Free State Health, Godfrey Mahlatsi, about the situation. Mahlatsi said although they are not responsible for the general maintenance and management of the private hospital, they are the Executive Authority for Health and will thus visit the facility and evaluate the complaint.

OFM News