‘€œI accompanied a relative to the St Elizabeth hospital after he had an epileptic fit, but in the two hours it took us to see the doctor he had another fit,’€ said Vinjwa-Hlonwane. There seemed to be only three doctors on duty in the hospital’€™s out-patient department, resulting in scores of people queuing up to be consulted.

‘€œAfter eventually seeing the doctor, my relative was admitted to the hospital, and we had to queue all over again to have a patient card opened. While waiting in that line I saw something suspicious: people walking right to the front of the line without queuing, giving the clerk something that looked like R20, and then receiving the patient cards immediately,’€ said Vinjwa-Hlonwane. However, she could not confirm who these people were and what exactly the money was for.

‘€œI complained about the time we waited and he quickly assisted me. Then my search  began for a porter to take my relative to the male medical ward, but a nurse there suggested I make my own transport arrangements as there are only three porters and we would wait very long to be served.’€

During another recent visit to the St Elizabeth hospital Vinjwa-Hlonwane had another eye-opening experience. She was accompanying her nephew who had a bad cut on his foot and had to wait in the casualty ward for an hour and a half to see the doctor for. ‘€œThe doctor apologised for taking so long and said that there was a shortage of staff at the facilities, and therefore he has to work both the day and the night shift. He said that corruption was widespread in the province’€™s health system, and that because of that he will be leaving soon.’€

Tandeka Vinjwa-Hlongwane is an OurHealth Citizen Journalist reporting from Lusikisiki in the OR Tambo health district in the Eastern Cape