MEC OF HEALTH EMBARKS ON PROVINCIAL SPECIALIST OUTREACH
At Letaba Hospital we visited paediatric unit, surgical ward,Xray,orthoraedic and theatre pit, Dr C.N Phatudi Hospital we spoke with blind patients.
In Letaba some patients waited their turn to be operated and some got operated on different operations.
There was a young lady who travelled around the province for about 4 months,for her childs operation on her leg,she didn't have enough money to pay for private hospital.She did loose hope for a period of time and now when this initiative was introduced,her child was operated successfully and she was very excited.
This two young girls they were preparing for tunsels operation,the first one mentioned that those tunsels they make it difficult for her to eat and study because when they attack her she gets sick.The last young girl mentioned that they make her life difficult because she can't breath properly and she has four that need to be removed otherwise if not removed she will die.
The 22 years old girl called Dineo from Phalaborwa Namakgale,who is a model and hairdresser shared her story with us. Dineo had breasts that looked like (Arecaceae Tree),she described her breast being heavy and causing alot of back & shoulder pains. What we found very sad was she got kicked at her current modelling agency because of her breast shaming. She is now extremely happy that they operated her breasts and life will be normal again.
At Dr C.N Phatudi there was few patients who went for eyes operation and others got operated as they were blind. The other patients mentioned that they were able to do their house chores by themselves and they got assistance from family if necessary.
The old man who was blind awaiting operation, mentioned that "some of his family members distanced themselves from me and I lived with a helper in my house,my wish is to see my house and the helper after operation",spoke while crying. All patients their operation went well and now their site is back for good.
Dr Masipa MAXILLO FACIAL SURGEON they deal with face injuries,they make sure that your face looks good after accident or being stabbed on the face. They never had death cases during operation,but the death cases they had are counted to 4 as those patients came in the hospital while only few hours to meet the saviour. Before they operate your face they do tests,to ensure that they do the correct operation.
Dr Sithole the best RADIOLOGIST in Limpopo,showcased the biggest machine that can scan everything on your body within few minutes or seconds to detect the cause. The machine is called 64 slides MDCT is compared to a FERRARI CAR, because it takes 573 slides in 2 minutes plus 583 pictures in two minutes (he mentioned that no photographer in the world will take those images in such time).
Lucky Mokhasi Head Nurse at Letaba Hospital mentioned that they listen and take into consideration the complaints of patients and they attend to them immediately, to ensure that they maintain good service delivery in the hospital. He also said that they sometimes get complaints about the hospital/service delivery from patients,he touched an issue of procols that needs to be followed,at the end of the day the matter will be solved.
The other thing was the uniqueness of Letaba Hospital,he describes it as a place you can call home because they have patience & treat patients with TENDER LOVING CARE. Bonus is that the hospital is regional they have the best specialists in town.
Closing remarks: Patients are satisfied by the services,they no longer have alot of backlog.
MEC Dr Ramathuba mentioned that she has realised that people in the rural areas have rights to better health care,she also believes more can be done. They have 23 specialists that work in different operations and districts,encouraging other specialists is talking about this initiative and what good it does in the community.
She also emphasized that when you are not feeling well go to the hospital and get assistance,we should not give up easily and we should be patient. She spoke about not being asked tenders rather ask about medical assistance.
The district that stands for her is Mopani as is organised and is not resilient,but most and far most you learn from your mistakes and still all the other districts are the best. The thing that disturbed her during the visits was,some hospitals when she goes there the CEO & Psychologist are not available on duty they locked theatres & some wards,nurses are not available to assist and she has to plead with them to assist the community.
This specialists who volunteered they get ecstasy when they see patients happy and marvelous. The MEC on her closing remarks mentioned a sentence that is invested by saying that (when you do things you have invited God in them nothing can go wrong).
The MEC has already been to 3 districts Sekhukhune, Waterberg and Mopani,she will also visit Vhembe and Capricorn.
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