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IN SHOCK: Marubini Makumbe says she received contraceptives and mental illness pills for breast cancer. PHOT0: ELIJAR MUSHIANA

A LIMPOPO woman got the shock of her life when she discovered that for more than three years she had been using wrong medication for breast cancer.

Marubini Flora Makumbe, 56, from Nngwekhulu village in Vuwani, Limpopo, said the Tshilidzini Hospital has been supplying her with contraceptive tablets.

Makumbe said she was alerted by a neighbour, who saw her take the tablets. The neighbour noted that they were birth control pills.

"I went back to the hospital where I was given the wrong medication, which I had used for three years. I started feeling pains and gained weight with big muscles developing on my face, neck, hands and legs," Makumbe said.

"My four children were shocked to see me becoming aggressive when I was using those medications."

Community members were also surprised to see changes in Makumbe's body.

"Another neighbour asked me about my sudden weight gain. I went to the nearest clinic, Davhana, where a nurse was shocked to see me using these pills instead of ones meant for cancer. A nurse referred me back to Tshilidzini Hospital to see the doctors."

Makumbe said that a nurse who was working in the psychiatric section did not find her name on his list. It is suspected the pills she was given were meant for someone from her neighbouring village.

"My problem is that I cannot read and understand English. I thought the nurses had given me the correct medication.

"Since I started using the wrong medication I felt changes all over my body, but I thought it was a sign of healing.

"I was a hard worker but my children are starving due to the lack of food on the table," Makumbe said.

She has called on the Health Department to compensate her.

Provincial health spokeswoman Snenhlanhla Gumede said the department is aware of Makumbe's case. She said she could not discuss Makumbe's medical records without compromising her privacy.

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Fri May 24 17:06:48 SAST 2013 ::

Aug 20, 2012

maneater

pphheewww nc nc nc !!!!
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Aug 20, 2012

QueenTT

Nurses are irresponsible at most and don't care...
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Aug 20, 2012

MommaC

They have testosterone in birth control pills now?
NHI anyone?
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Aug 20, 2012

candilious

@MommaC- hahaahahahhhh have you ever
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Aug 20, 2012

MommaC

candilious

I know the progesterone only pill can make you put on the killos but I know for a fact that oestrogen doesn't make you muscular. What the hell were they feeding her?
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Aug 20, 2012

seutullamakunutu

This is ignorant now, those people need to be disciplined as they robbed this woman 3 years of her life.
What happened to the South frican nursing council's hearings? Has the council lost its duty to protect the public ?
Is this the result of taking people from the street to come to nursing as former minister Nkosazana once claimed ?
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Aug 20, 2012

Thulijudithlady111

Very ignorant health workers...

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Aug 20, 2012

Kuch

we put our lives in doctors only to let us down........
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Aug 20, 2012

MOLORI

sue them
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Aug 20, 2012

MsKinkyakaKamaSutra

'Hospital is giving me contraceptives and mental illness pills for breast cancer'
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Im dumbfounded........................


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