Following the story, in our previous edition, regarding the poor treatment a Laudium resident received at the Kalafong Hospital, which falls under the ANC led Gauteng Dept of Health, a number of residents have since also come forward with complaints to the Laudium Sun.
Allegations of racial discrimination have once again been levelled at the hospital staff, when
it comes to Indian patients. ANC Cllr Patel, who many say blindfoldedly follows the ANC, is part of the Centurion ANC PCO, where ANC members in the local Council, the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and Parliament sit together to assist residents in the area with problems at local, Provincial and National level, has yet to make a statement on whether he has referred the complaint to his ANC comrades in the Gauteng Legislature. Nevertheless, in one of the latest complaints the Laudium Sun has received, also about racial discrimination, an Indian mother from Lotus Gardens, which is the feeder area for Kalafong Hospital, explained about discrimination practised by some hospital staff and the poor service at the hospital. Thashila Pillay the mother of a 3 year old boy told the Laudium Sun, about the trauma she experienced at the hands of rude staff at Kalafong. “I had a really bad experience at Kalafong Hospital when I admitted my 3-year old child the previous week. He was admitted on Wednesday and I had to get a discharge the next morning as I could not leave him alone. My child had an ear problem, and the doctor said we had to admit him into hospital, but the experience was terrible and traumatic. The staff in Ward 3, did not want me to be with him during the night, even just to sit by his side or even to sit outside his ward so that I could be there should he cry for me. They told me that no mothers were allowed. However, I noticed that other children in Ward 3 had their mothers with them. There seems to be a huge issue of racial discrimination at Kalafong Hospital — they treat Indian people especially badly. From the security guard to the hospital matron, we were treated with severe disrespect. My child was treated poorly — once, when I managed to sneak in to check on him, I found him sleeping in the arms of a security guard. How can the hospital allow such acts? And no one is doing anything about it! Other parents were allowed to bring snacks and food items for their children, but when I tried to do the same, I was told that I was not allowed to feed my child.”
A tearful Thashila added, “I just hope someone speaks up against the negligence and racial discrimination happening at Kalafong Hospital and takes it further— this has to stop, as I have heard of many other Indians being treated badly.”
Moulana Abubakr (Aboo) Chougly told the Laudium Sun, “While Kalafong has the best doctors, the staff have a don’t care attitude, they don’t care how they talk to you or how they treat or nurse a patient. I believe that the NHI Policy that the government wants to implement will be impossible to manage, it will just be a disaster. I personally experienced a situation where a young boy, who had a fracture, waited from 8am until 7pm and nobody attended to him, so we had to take him to a private hospital and raise money to pay for the treatment.”
Matron Spihele Motlhong from Kalafong Hospital told the Laudium Sun, “We cannot say anything about the matter at this time. I have nothing else to say.”
*The Laudium Sun tried calling Cllr Patel on two occasions to get a response from him, as a
member of the ANC PCO office in Centurion, but he failed to answer.
meant to assist residents with such issues.