This is according to the department’s spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi. Mvambi says that it is never excusable for a staff member to watch tv during office hours. In an interview with OFM, Desiree Nel alleged that the hospital staff left her mother unattended for more than six hours in a dirty storeroom and that the hospital’s toilets were only cleaned after pictures she had taken surfaced on social media.

Mvambi says this was not the case. He says her mother was admitted at 02:00 on Saturday morning and she was operated on that same morning.

He also says the cause of the dirty toilet paper on the wall is caused by patients who smoke snuff and that the cleaning crew had promised to up their standard of work. The hole is being fixed as it had an enclosure that seems to have been removed.

Nel also claimed that her mother was kept in a storeroom before being operated on. Mvambi said this was due to the fact that her mother had not come through a referral system and therefore the hospital was unprepared for her arrival. He says the hospital had to put the patient in a storeroom and immediately once the patient was stabilised they moved her into the ward.

Mvambi says the report will be finalised by Tuesday, next week.

Transcript: “That official is facing disciplinary charges. I am told that they are going to suspend that official without pay. Under no circumstances should an official watch movies during working hours, even if it is quiet. People are asked to be 360 degrees alert of anything that is happening in the ward. The ward is not a movie-watching place.”

OFM News/Thandi Ntobela