TONGA Hospital in Mpumalanga near Komatipoort has been nicknamed Emvakwakho, local slang for "just after you left". Villagers came up with the name after a spate of deaths in the hospital.
After taking patients for medical treatment relatives would return the following day, hoping for good news, some minor improvements or something to lift their spirits. But they would be told by a hospital staffer: "Ushone emvakwakho" - the patient died "just after you left" the hospital.
My family got the same response a few years ago when my cousin and her unborn baby died prior to labour in the hospital's theatre.
Survived by a young girl and a young husband, her death left heavy hearts in the family.
But Tonga is not the only place of death. Many other hospitals have become places of "no return".
Some have been turned into offices where patients apply for disability grants!
This was the case with Shabbeir Nagel, who had his leg amputated at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria where he had gone for heart surgery.
The Gauteng provincial government has been dithering, refusing to pay him R6-million as required by a court order.
It was not until the sheriff came knocking that Premier Nomvula Mokonyane undertook to pay.
Another gruesome case is that of Martha Khanyi. On December 2 1999 Khanyi was admitted to Pholong Hospital in Gauteng to deliver her bundle of joy.
She had been transferred from Tsakane Clinic.
Had the nurses in Tsakane and Pholong shown any responsibility they would have noticed that Khanyi was about to have a "breech birth" - with baby feet coming first instead of the head.
Even as the baby's foot had begun to emerge, the midwives at Pholong deliberately ignored the fact that Khanyi needed to give birth by Caesarean section.
The failure of the Tsakane and Pholong hospital staff to properly examine her led to catastrophic consequences.
Baby Sibusiso was asphyxiated due to a prolonged birth process and as a result suffered extensive brain damage.
Khanyi subsequently took the legal route and sued the Gauteng government for negligence.
Strangely, the Gauteng government contested the case.
For 12 years Khanyi lived in pain. Strongly etched in her mind was that she was facing a government with bigger financial muscle - thanks to the taxpayers' money - that didn't care for her and probably many others like her.
This is a government that did all it could, including dodging certain legal processes, so that it could look away from the mess caused by its officials.
And when Johannesburg High Court Judge Nigel Willis ruled in favour of Khanyi, awarding her R9.25-million in damages, the Gauteng government threatened to appeal.
Then the sheriff came knocking and public pressure mounted. In countries where life is valued heads would have rolled.
On the morning of June 7 2006 a King William's Town woman was admitted to Bhisho Hospital to deliver her first baby.
But giving birth to her baby boy 24 hours later turned out to be a nightmare. While in her mother's womb, the baby was not positioned correctly for normal birth.
In terms of normal practice the nurses were supposed to have performed an emergency Caesarean section. But they failed to do so.
As a result the birth was unnecessarily prolonged.
As if this was not enough, court documents seen by the Daily Dispatch, Sowetan's sister newspaper, show that while in labour the woman was hit by a nurse and sworn at. She was at some point told to "voetsek" while she was in pain.
The results were catastrophic. The baby was deprived of oxygen and now suffers from spastic cerebral palsy.
He was brain damaged and was going to need permanent medical and parental care. A legal battle ensued.
Lawyers who specialise in medical malpractice took the mater up and sued the Eastern Cape government for negligence. Strangely, the government stood against the weak. It was another case of a government that didn't really care.
In February last year the Bhisho High Court found in her favour and awarded her R16-million in compensation.
On December 1 2011 a heavily pregnant Nosibulelo Dwenga went to Mthatha Hospital complaining of headaches. Nurses told her doctors were away "writing exams".
They gave her painkillers and turned her away on several occasions. On December 12 a private doctor wrote a letter explaining that Dwenga needed to be operated on urgently since her baby was in trouble.
It was then that the hospital pretended to take the matter seriously. On admission she was forced to share a bed with another patient for four days and was mocked by a nurse.
"On my second day in hospital I thought the baby was coming. I asked the nurse to come and check for me. She took a peek and belted out Zahara's song, Loliwe," Dwenga told the Sunday Times.
"The two nurses were completely unconcerned, watching Generations (soapie) on TV."
Dwenga was operated on only on December 16.
She lost her first child.
On September 18 1997 the government gave birth to a bundle of joy called Batho Pele - putting people first. Her birth raised hopes in the entire Republic that for the first time citizens, who have always been treated with disdain in public institutions, would now be given the VIP treatment they deserved.
The birth certificate was issued in the form of a White Paper signed by then minister of public service and administration Zola Skweyiya. On the certificate, Skweyiya undertook to ensure that this baby would live by her name.
"Access to decent public services is no longer a privilege to be enjoyed by a few; it is now the rightful expectation of all citizens, especially those previously disadvantaged. This is why the guiding principle of public service transformation and reform is 'service to the people'," Skweyiya wrote.
"The transformation of our public service is to be judged, rightly, by the practical difference people see in their everyday lives. That is why I am launching Batho Pele.
"I want to turn words into action. I want the needs of our people to come first and be satisfied. I want people to view and experience the public service in an entirely new way."
Batho Pele would be a teenager by now. But it seems she suffered from lack of oxygen quite early on.
Hospitals of 'no return'
TONGA Hospital in Mpumalanga near Komatipoort has been nicknamed Emvakwakho, local slang for "just after you left". Villagers came up with the name after a spate of deaths in the hospital.
After taking patients for medical treatment relatives would return the following day, hoping for good news, some minor improvements or something to lift their spirits. But they would be told by a hospital staffer: "Ushone emvakwakho" - the patient died "just after you left" the hospital.
My family got the same response a few years ago when my cousin and her unborn baby died prior to labour in the hospital's theatre.
Survived by a young girl and a young husband, her death left heavy hearts in the family.
But Tonga is not the only place of death. Many other hospitals have become places of "no return".
Some have been turned into offices where patients apply for disability grants!
This was the case with Shabbeir Nagel, who had his leg amputated at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria where he had gone for heart surgery.
The Gauteng provincial government has been dithering, refusing to pay him R6-million as required by a court order.
It was not until the sheriff came knocking that Premier Nomvula Mokonyane undertook to pay.
Another gruesome case is that of Martha Khanyi. On December 2 1999 Khanyi was admitted to Pholong Hospital in Gauteng to deliver her bundle of joy.
She had been transferred from Tsakane Clinic.
Had the nurses in Tsakane and Pholong shown any responsibility they would have noticed that Khanyi was about to have a "breech birth" - with baby feet coming first instead of the head.
Even as the baby's foot had begun to emerge, the midwives at Pholong deliberately ignored the fact that Khanyi needed to give birth by Caesarean section.
The failure of the Tsakane and Pholong hospital staff to properly examine her led to catastrophic consequences.
Baby Sibusiso was asphyxiated due to a prolonged birth process and as a result suffered extensive brain damage.
Khanyi subsequently took the legal route and sued the Gauteng government for negligence.
Strangely, the Gauteng government contested the case.
For 12 years Khanyi lived in pain. Strongly etched in her mind was that she was facing a government with bigger financial muscle - thanks to the taxpayers' money - that didn't care for her and probably many others like her.
This is a government that did all it could, including dodging certain legal processes, so that it could look away from the mess caused by its officials.
And when Johannesburg High Court Judge Nigel Willis ruled in favour of Khanyi, awarding her R9.25-million in damages, the Gauteng government threatened to appeal.
Then the sheriff came knocking and public pressure mounted. In countries where life is valued heads would have rolled.
On the morning of June 7 2006 a King William's Town woman was admitted to Bhisho Hospital to deliver her first baby.
But giving birth to her baby boy 24 hours later turned out to be a nightmare. While in her mother's womb, the baby was not positioned correctly for normal birth.
In terms of normal practice the nurses were supposed to have performed an emergency Caesarean section. But they failed to do so.
As a result the birth was unnecessarily prolonged.
As if this was not enough, court documents seen by the Daily Dispatch, Sowetan's sister newspaper, show that while in labour the woman was hit by a nurse and sworn at. She was at some point told to "voetsek" while she was in pain.
The results were catastrophic. The baby was deprived of oxygen and now suffers from spastic cerebral palsy.
He was brain damaged and was going to need permanent medical and parental care. A legal battle ensued.
Lawyers who specialise in medical malpractice took the mater up and sued the Eastern Cape government for negligence. Strangely, the government stood against the weak. It was another case of a government that didn't really care.
In February last year the Bhisho High Court found in her favour and awarded her R16-million in compensation.
On December 1 2011 a heavily pregnant Nosibulelo Dwenga went to Mthatha Hospital complaining of headaches. Nurses told her doctors were away "writing exams".
They gave her painkillers and turned her away on several occasions. On December 12 a private doctor wrote a letter explaining that Dwenga needed to be operated on urgently since her baby was in trouble.
It was then that the hospital pretended to take the matter seriously. On admission she was forced to share a bed with another patient for four days and was mocked by a nurse.
"On my second day in hospital I thought the baby was coming. I asked the nurse to come and check for me. She took a peek and belted out Zahara's song, Loliwe," Dwenga told the Sunday Times.
"The two nurses were completely unconcerned, watching Generations (soapie) on TV."
Dwenga was operated on only on December 16.
She lost her first child.
On September 18 1997 the government gave birth to a bundle of joy called Batho Pele - putting people first. Her birth raised hopes in the entire Republic that for the first time citizens, who have always been treated with disdain in public institutions, would now be given the VIP treatment they deserved.
The birth certificate was issued in the form of a White Paper signed by then minister of public service and administration Zola Skweyiya. On the certificate, Skweyiya undertook to ensure that this baby would live by her name.
"Access to decent public services is no longer a privilege to be enjoyed by a few; it is now the rightful expectation of all citizens, especially those previously disadvantaged. This is why the guiding principle of public service transformation and reform is 'service to the people'," Skweyiya wrote.
"The transformation of our public service is to be judged, rightly, by the practical difference people see in their everyday lives. That is why I am launching Batho Pele.
"I want to turn words into action. I want the needs of our people to come first and be satisfied. I want people to view and experience the public service in an entirely new way."
Batho Pele would be a teenager by now. But it seems she suffered from lack of oxygen quite early on.
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