JOHANNESBURG - Helen Joseph Hospital is buckling under a worsening staffing crisis, with doctors threatening to close the emergency unit due to severe staff shortages.
Several doctors have gone unpaid since April due to administrative failures.
One patient, Marsha Hunt, said she waited hours for urgent care, only to be told to wait even longer, or "go home and die."
Hunt said she was sexually abused and has suffered internal complications ever since.
Bleeding and in agony, she turned to Helen Joseph Hospital for urgent care only to be left feeling even more vulnerable.
“I was given morphine, fentanyl and Pantoloc without a diagnosis. I was lying in a bed in somebody else’s blood when they did an internal check and then they sent me for x-rays.
Her allegations come as Helen Joseph Hospital faces renewed scrutiny over conditions inside its emergency unit.
A notice issued by a doctor to patients attending the emergency ward has further exposed the pressure staff are working under.
It warned of severe staff shortages and mounting pressure on the emergency department, advising patients to seek care at alternative healthcare facilities where possible.
But Hunt said those pressures cannot come at the expense of patients’ dignity.
The Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said it is rolling out remedial measures at the hospital
“The facility has been plagued by challenges, probably due to a lack of management. We brought in a new acting CEO at the facility who is changing quite a lot of things on how the system works in its entirety. Recently we just appointed about four sessional doctors, Mabona said.
He said officials are also investigating Hunt’s allegations.
But Dr Mark Human of the South African Medical Association warns the problems run far deeper than a handful of vacant posts.
“ Dire is probably the best word to use. But it's not isolated to Helen Joseph; instead, this is just one little block in the whole puzzle of Gauteng health. It's just getting worse and worse.
eNCA’s Nabeelah Shaikh filed this report.