No good in this story

There are those in the government who say we should start telling those “good stories” about this country. Those tales are where everybody is happy, treated with dignity and services are delivers.

And sometime, it appears, its own civil servants try to manipulate events and people, to falsely tell one of these “good stories”.

That was what happened last week at Edenvale Hospital. Ahead of an inspection that was to be done at the Hospital by the “higher ups” in the department of health, staff was told to get rid of those embarrassing patients who had been forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor because there were not enough beds.

Some of those unfortunates were physically shipped out of the hospital, while others were given disclaimers to sign, which stated that they consented to being placed on the mattresses if there were no beds available.

A doctor wrote an anonymous note expressing concern about the situation, saying: “These are incredibly sick and unstable patients who often die without a bed becoming available.”

Not only that, but the air conditioning in the operating theatre has not been working, leading to increased heat, which has, in turn, caused increased post-operative infections.

Yet, presumable, when all the good inspectors from the department arrived, they saw only a good story.

People who are sick and suffering should not have to undergo these additional agonies of lying on the floors of our hospitals.

The Kempton Park hospital must be re-opened to take the pressure off Edenvale and Tembisa. This is the sort of service people want to have delivered.