Patient's mother now treated like a queen

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Friday May 21, 2010 00:00

Tapiwa Moloi, 32, an employee of a construction company in her home village of Mathangwane, took two month old Tuelo to the hospital last month with a complaint of diarrhoea and vomiting.

She was put on a drip because she was dehydrated. A month later Tuelo was still hospitalised  as she still was this week, and the finger of the hand whose backhand was pierced to make way for the drip was amputated following a recommendation from a doctor who felt the finger was damaged beyond repair.

'The superintendent of the hospital came to greet me in the morning. She said she would come back later,' she said.

Asked how the superintendent appeared, Tapiwa, who when Mmegi visited her last week said she only saw the hospital authorities once, said the administrator looked remorseful and withdrawn.

'She looked like someone feeling guilty about something,' she said, before asking that we finish our conversation as the matron of the hospital was also approaching.

'Mme le gale ba ntsaya sentle thata. Le ngwana o a sidilega  - They treat me very well. The baby is also coping quite well,' she said before hastily hanging up. Meanwhile, some paediatricians told Mmegi that diarrhoea and vomiting did not correlate with a finger being amputated. A private practitioner, who preferred anonymity, said there was no way some one vomiting can have their finger amputated.

'It is difficult to link the two; diarrhoea and finger amputation. As for administering a drip on a patient, it depends on the level of dehydration,' said the doctor. 

At the time of writing the superintendent was being briefed by his subordinates.'We will let you know when investigations start,' he said.