A DOCTOR fired three-and-a-half years ago for speaking out against appalling conditions at Frere Hospital in East London is unemployed - and begging for her job back.
Specialist Nokuzola Ntshona was shown the door when she supported damning findings by former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who visited the hospital unannounced and created a national storm.
Eastern Cape health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said procedure "cannot be flouted because someone is begging". He said Ntshona could approach the Labour Court if she felt aggrieved.
Ntshona, now 59, wrote to former president Thabo Mbeki and the media, accusing former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang of turning a blind eye to the crisis when the scandal broke in 2007.
A disciplinary hearing found Ntshona, deputy manager of the East London health complex and medical superintendent of Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, guilty. She was fired.
Ntshona, a US-trained gynaecologist and obstetrician, this week said recent exposés of poor conditions at Frere Hospital by the Daily Dispatch were proof that she was right to blow the whistle when she did. "I have been vindicated but it is not helping my situation.
"I have to beg for food and a place to live when I could be contributing to solving the health problems of this province," she said.
"I need my job back. I am prepared to work under supervision. It breaks my heart to wake up every morning and sit idle with all the education I have. I could be helping my people."
Ntshona lives in a back room with other people in Duncan Village. A "friendly" family took pity on her and accommodated her.
"I am humiliated that I cannot even contribute adequately to help these kind people because I do not have an income. I have lost everything I had - my car, house, furniture."
Sacked doctor begs to survive
A DOCTOR fired three-and-a-half years ago for speaking out against appalling conditions at Frere Hospital in East London is unemployed - and begging for her job back.
Specialist Nokuzola Ntshona was shown the door when she supported damning findings by former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who visited the hospital unannounced and created a national storm.
Eastern Cape health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said procedure "cannot be flouted because someone is begging". He said Ntshona could approach the Labour Court if she felt aggrieved.
Ntshona, now 59, wrote to former president Thabo Mbeki and the media, accusing former health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang of turning a blind eye to the crisis when the scandal broke in 2007.
A disciplinary hearing found Ntshona, deputy manager of the East London health complex and medical superintendent of Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, guilty. She was fired.
Ntshona, a US-trained gynaecologist and obstetrician, this week said recent exposés of poor conditions at Frere Hospital by the Daily Dispatch were proof that she was right to blow the whistle when she did. "I have been vindicated but it is not helping my situation.
"I have to beg for food and a place to live when I could be contributing to solving the health problems of this province," she said.
"I need my job back. I am prepared to work under supervision. It breaks my heart to wake up every morning and sit idle with all the education I have. I could be helping my people."
Ntshona lives in a back room with other people in Duncan Village. A "friendly" family took pity on her and accommodated her.
"I am humiliated that I cannot even contribute adequately to help these kind people because I do not have an income. I have lost everything I had - my car, house, furniture."
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