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News24 reports that a Northern Cape woman died last week from an asthma attack after staff at the Sutherland Clinic were not available to help her after hours. Only a security guard was on duty at the clinic.
The provincial department of health and nursing staff have been in dispute over overtime pay since July. The woman’s husband told how his wife, Sarah Maki, a chronic asthma sufferer, died while he was taking her to Laingsburg Hospital in the Western Cape. According to an insider, clinic staff also refused to help a 19‑year‑old woman after she drank poison in a suicide attempt. Residents who have needed urgent medical help after hours and over weekends have, in recent weeks, turned in desperation to the Sutherland Police Station.
The station commander said they were facing a “major crisis” and added: “We urgently need help. The police station looks like an abattoir, with bloodied people with stab wounds coming to us for help. We are not trained to treat medical emergencies.” Nurses at the Sutherland Clinic issued a notice on 24 November that from 25 November no nurse or sister would be available at the Sutherland Clinic from 5pm until 8am the following morning. The notice indicated: “This crisis has arisen due to financial constraints on the payment of medical staff overtime by the department of health in the Northern Cape.” Dimpo Disipi of nurses’ union Denosa in the Northern Cape commented that although he had sympathy with the passing of Sarah Maki, the health department must answer for the loss of life, and not the staff of the Sutherland Clinic.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernusta Maralack at City Press (subscription / trial registration required)
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