Cape Town - The Khayelitsha District Hospital (KDH) says they do not encourage patients to sleep in the hospital’s waiting area following an outcry over pictures that emerged on social media of patients sleeping on the floor and some in their wheelchairs.
The hospital said some patients choose to sit or sleep in the waiting area because “they prefer not to go home when discharged in the evening for safety reasons or while they are waiting to be fetched by family members”.
Khayelitsha resident Andy Buthane who detailed her experience at the hospital, said it left her “traumatised”.
She alleged she arrived at the hospital at around 3.30pm on Tuesday and was only assisted at 9.30am the next day.
“I arrived at the trauma unit at 3.30pm. After waiting for two hours I was then told to go and open a folder. I came back with the folder and again waited up until 7pm. A doctor only consulted with me after 10pm and told me to wait for another doctor that never came that night.
“Sitting there, waiting for the doctor was so traumatic, horrible and uncomfortable as we were in one room with all the other patients with different challenges and sicknesses, sitting on steel chairs, and others opting to sleep on the tiled floor.
“The waiting continued all night, morning came and new patients were now coming in. I had to demand to be helped as I was told to wait again in the queue. Fortunately my name was finally called around 9.30am in the morning.
“My experience at the hospital was very traumatic, it broke my heart to think that myself, my family and the entire community will continue to get this awful service as long as we cannot afford medical aid,” she said.
Western Cape Department of Health, Khayelitsha Eastern Substructure, spokesperson Abulele Dyasi said the hospital, like all hospitals in the province, sees an influx of patients especially over weekends.
“The weekend (Friday, July 15, to Monday, July 18) was very busy with trauma cases and the emergency team was under enormous pressure. This affected the waiting times and patients who were triaged as green or yellow had to wait longer, with some waiting about 12 hours on average. The bed occupancy rate over the weekend was 110%. Our records show the patient in the wheelchair was triaged green (less urgent) on arrival at 8.30pm on July 19 and seen at 9.33pm that evening. We do not encourage patients to sleep in the waiting area and we urge all non-urgent patients to please visit their nearest clinics before visiting the hospital to ease the burden on emergency health care workers,“ said Dyasi.
Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said they have raised their concerns about the “appalling” situation at the hospital.
“The Western Cape department of health must make budget available to deal with the appalling situation at the KDH,” he said.
The National Department of Health said it will engage provincial authorities to get more information about the extent of the challenge in order to provide necessary support.
Cape Times