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“We have read several articles of patients’ passing at Stellenbosch Hospital, and we, the families of these patients, often go home left distraught and uninformed of the situation around the passing.”
Cadman added that on admitting her uncle to Stellenbosch Hospital they had the pleasure of speaking only to his attending doctor, Dr Cornelissen, once.
“We have requested more information from the start and left contact details to be informed of his progress. Several calls were made to the Hospital, but to no avail. We wanted him to be discharged on one occasion because we saw no improvement or did not know the way forward.
“I made my last call to the Hospital on Thursday 14 April and spoke to Dr Naidoo, who informed me that he cannot really disclose any information as he is not the patient’s attending doctor.
“Once again a request was left with the doctor to ask my uncle’s attending doctor to contact us. The notes on the hospital chart, as informed by the nursing staff read that we were contacted by attending doctor, but no sign of any missed calls reflected on our phones. We have been dealt a very bad hand in the treatment of our loved one.”
She said all families who experienced the passing of a family member at Stellenbosch Hospital, or had previously visited a Provincial Day Clinic or even a provincial dentist must know “R259bn goes to Health, up from the revised estimate of R256,2bn in 2021. That’s made up of R105,5bn for district health services, R51,4bn for other health services, R44,1bn for central hospital services, R38,1bn for provincial hospital services, and R9,7bn for facilities management and maintenance.”
Cadman added that over the past week during Wildschut’s admission to Stellenbosch Hospital the family was uninformed and treated with no respect, no kind word of encouragement or consolation.
“No justice will come of all of this. To the future visitors of Stellenbosch Hospital, I urge you to stand your ground, insist on your right to healthcare, your right to service delivery, your right to have answers to your questions, your right to a friendly smile and sincere compassion and understanding to your reason for visiting a Hospital.”
Maritz said the department prided itself in being transparent and would like to invite close relatives of Mr Wildschut to contact Dr Lawson Eksteen (021 808 6173) if they had any more questions about his hospitalisation.
