Nkhumeleni Mudau’s 64-year-old mother Lisbeth had been suffering from diarrhea when a private Centurion doctor referred her to Pretoria’s Tshwane District Hospital.

Although he and her mother were attended to immediately after arriving at the hospital, Mudau says he is angry that his mother waited seven hours for a bed.

During this wait, Lisbeth was seated in the casualty ward with a drip that ran dry for an hour before being replaced, according to her son. He also says he is unhappy that his mother and other patients were not given blankets in the cold ward. Ultimately, Lisbeth was transferred to a bed seven hours later at 9pm, according to Mudau.

“I enquired but was told that my mother is admitted and the reason she was seated there is because the nurses were trying to find a bed for her,” Mudau told OurHealth.

OurHealth asked Mudau if he had taken steps to lay a formal complaint about service at the hospital. While he agreed to be fully named in this article, Mudau said he had not laid a formal complaint with the hospital CEO for fear that his mother would be treated poorly on her next visit.

Nurses have contested his allegations.

The hospital’s nursing manager denied that the hospital suffered from a shortage of beds. She added that a wait in causality of about four hours allowed doctors to observe patients’ conditions before allocating them beds.

The staff member, whose name has been withheld to protect her from victimisation, said that the hospital is happy to work with patients and community members to address any problems that can be factually verified.

Nongovernmental organisations working in the area including the Treatment Action Campaign and the South African National NPO Coalition said they have never received complaints about the hospital previously.