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HURT: Maria Nkitsing and her daughter Elisabeth

Maria Nkitsing, of Kanana RDP section, said she collapsed while walking in her house on December 13 last year.

She was admitted to the local Jubilee Hospital the next day but was discharged without being assisted.

"Doctors said I should go back home and they would call me as soon as they were ready to help me," she said.

"I am still waiting for their call."

According to her medical records Nkitsing suffered a "fractured neck of femur".

Spopo Modise, a medical doctor in Marapyane, Mpumalanga, described the term fractured neck of femur as broken upper bone of the leg.

Modise said: "The ailment can only be fixed by taking the patient to the theatre for an operation in which screws will be used to align the bones."

Nkitsing's daughter, Elisabeth, said when her mom fell in December the family did not think the injury was so serious.

"I took her to the Jubilee Hospital the next day when she complained that the pain was unbearable," Elisabeth said.

"When we got there a doctor just put his hand on my mom's shoulder and said the injury was not serious. He gave her a kind of cream and other medication before discharging her."

When they realised she was not getting any better, she was taken to hospital again.

"Another doctor found that her thigh was broken," Elisabeth said.

Nkitsing was eventually admitted to the facility from January 8 to January 31. It was then that the doctors discovered that only surgery could fix the extensive damage to her upper leg.

But Nkitsing was not taken to the theatre for surgery. She was told to come back the following week, because "(the) doctors were on leave" and would only be back in a month's time.

Elisabeth said: "When we went back later we were told my mom could not be assisted because the theatre bed was broken.

"They insisted that we leave our contact details with them and said they would call us - but this has not happened," Elisabeth said.

Gauteng health department spokesman Simon Zwane said his department would investigate the matter. - alfredm@sowetan.co.za

• This article was first published in the printed newspaper and eEdition on 3 September 2012. Click on this link to view the eEdition

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Tue May 21 17:05:42 SAST 2013 ::

Sep 4, 2012

minezolo

Mr Minister plz do something
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Sep 4, 2012

ChampRef

Ka nnete mare, dilo tse so dintse di etsagalla batho ba rona, kamo ditsotsi tse tsa ANC dintse dire BETTER LIFE FOR ALL, ruri ke mathata.
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Sep 4, 2012

Bizzabo

ChampRef
Ka nnete mare, dilo tse so dintse di etsagalla batho ba rona, kamo ditsotsi tse tsa ANC dintse dire BETTER LIFE FOR ALL, ruri ke mathata

kamo bare NHI.
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Sep 6, 2012

skwamasamabele

Msholozi, please do something, its issues like these that would get you re-elected
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