SIYABONGA SITHOLE
Johannesburg - Evidence Msibi, 47, of Siyanqoba township in Witbank has accused an assistant and junior nurse of Klarinet community clinic of attempting to bribe her with R5 000 after a case of medical negligence.
On July 22, Msibi went to the clinic for her routine check up. On arrival at the clinic, and after her usual check up, she further enquired on the availability of a prevention injection or pill and was subsequently given the injection.
However, the following day at work, Msibi said she began feeling dizzy and requested to go home. She was given the rest of the week off from work.
For days she could not sit or walk due to the swelling of her backside and she requested more time off to deal with the pain and other complications.
A few days later, she went back to the clinic to seek medical attention and clarity on the swelling and some of the new symptoms she was experiencing. She was given pain killers and left.
A week later she returned once again with more pain and more backside problems. She told this newspaper that there was a sizeable abscess dripping from her unbandaged backside sore, which was left gaping after the injection.
After they drained the abscess, she said she was given sellotape and plaster to dress her sore and was referred to Witbank Hospital, where she was given injections before she was operated on.
She said since the injection, she is constantly tired and unable to stand and walk for long, and she does not understand what is happening as more.
"Since the injection, there have been more and more complications to my health. I can’t seem to be able to walk for long and for someone who has been exercising regularly, this worries me. The other day I felt dizzy and my legs became numb and I fell down. Previously I could walk and could run and spent most of my time at work on my feet. But these days I can’t do any of that," she said.
Msibi has been to the clinic numerous times, and every time she has tried to enquire about the changes she has been experiencing since the injection, no one has been able to give her a straight answer.
She said even the assistant nurse who injected her was unable to look her in the eye and tell her what happened. Instead, one day during her visit, while she was still sick, the same assistant nurse stopped her lying on a bed to rest.
Msibi said no one wants to come clean and tell her what is wrong with her. She also said the clinic failed to ensure that she was injected by an experienced nurse or treated in the presence of an experienced and senior nurse.
However, the biggest gripe Msibi has is the bribery attempt she alleges was made by the junior nurse, who was in the company of the clinic's operational manager, Thoko Mashiane.
In a audio recording, during a meeting between herself and the clinic’s head of operations, Thoko Mashiane and the assistant nurse, Lydia Shabangu, the junior nurse is heard telling Msibi that she has R5 000 as payment for her silence.
“This is all I have with me. I am the only bread winner at home, I hope it is not too little as I do not have more,” says the nurse.
However, Msibi laughs off the attempt and the assistant nurse simply says: “The ball is in your court. I have no power.”
In the same recording, Mashiane thanks Msibi for not taking the matter, further saying she is under pressure from similar incidents which the department is investigating.
“I thank you for not taking the matter forward. We are already under pressure as it is. If this goes out, there will be a lot of unnecessary attention, that is why I would like appreciate that we still have people like you, who feel our pain,” Mashiane is heard saying.
The Msibi family said they are concerned about the effect of the incident on the life of their daughter, who is the only breadwinner at home. Her mother, Rose Shabangu, said the nurse had failed to apologise for her negligence which has caused Msibi to regularly ask for time off work.
“We are scared as a family because she is the only one working. What is going to happen should she lose her job? Because these days she is forever limping and asking for time off work. We just do not know what to do as we do not know how this case of negligence will affect her life.
“It would have been better had they apologised and asked for forgiveness. The junior nurse is Shabangu and I am Shabangu, if she had come to us , we would have found a way to work this out. Now only Ms Thoko Mashiane was brave enough to approach us as a family. However, she then asked that we negotiate under the table and we were confused why she would ask something like this without the culprit present," Shabangu said.
Mashiane said she was not allowed to comment and referred The Star to the Mpumalanga Health Department spokesperson Christopher Nobela.
Since Monday, Nobela had not responded to The Star’s questions send to him.
The Star