Hospital has shortage of beds

The population growth in the area that the Louis Trichardt Memorial hospital is serving is creating serious logistical problems for the hospital, and patients have to sleep on floors in the corridors because of a lack of beds.

The hospital currently has only 52 beds, of which 12 are used in the maternity ward. Patients complain that they receive little or no attention from staff while they are made to sleep on mattresses on the floor.

One of the patients, Ms Masindi Tshikosi, said that patients were told that if they didn't want to sleep on the mattresses that the hospital had bought, they had to go to a bigger hospital, such as Elim or Siloam hospital. She mentioned that this was not possible because it was too far from home.

A fortnight ago an old woman, who did not want her name to be revealed, allegedly spent eight hours before receiving attention for a broken hand. Upon her arrival at the hospital, she was told that the doctor was in the maternity ward and that she would be attended to soon. She only received attention after waiting for eight hours. When she asked why the staff did not adhere to the principle of Batho Pele (People First), she received no satisfactory reply.

Nurses who were working in the hospital told Limpopo Mirror that their hands were tied. "We know about the people sleeping on the floor, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do to help them. Maybe since you are from the media, you will bring some changes to this hospital," one remarked.

The spokesperson for the Department of Health in the province, Ms Adele van der Linde, confirmed that there was a shortage of beds. She said that the hospital building was not big enough, because when it was built it was meant solely for the small Louis Trichardt community. Nowadays, it caters for large volumes of patients coming from as far as Kutama and Sinthumule. Ms Van der Linde advised patients to go straight to the big referral hospitals like Elim and Siloam.

Patients who feel that they have not been treated fairly by the staff at the hospital are invited to report the incidents to 0800 919191.

Date:14 November 2013

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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