Tebogo Padime from Praktiseer outside Burgersfort in Limpopo buried her two-year-old daughter, Revival, on Monday. The 35-year-old mother blames a nurse at Prakitseer clinic who refused to attend to the toddler. 

On Friday morning, around 10 o’clock, Padime set off on foot to visit a friend, with Revival strapped to her back. While walking, a group of young men who were standing in front of a tuckshop stopped her. 

“They told me that my child was having a nosebleed,” Padime tells Health-e News. “I took her off my back. When I saw her face, I immediately rushed her to Praktiseer clinic, which was close by.”  

Despite the long queues, Padime says the other patients agreed to let her daughter be attended to immediately. But the nurse who was on duty refused to treat the toddler, apparently because Padime is not registered at the clinic, and does not have a patient file. 

“She told me I must go to a clinic where they have a file with my child’s medical history,” she says. 

Her regular clinic is about 5 km from Praktiseer clinic in Ga-Motodi. 

“I didn’t have money for a taxi. So I was left with no option but to walk.”

When she arrived at the clinic in Ga-Motodi, Padime says, healthcare workers immediately examined her daughter. 

“They undressed her and continued to check the pulse and heartbeat. But they soon told me the child had passed away.” 

Padime believes that her lastborn would still be alive if the nurse at Praktiseer had not turned them away. 

This is the second such incident reported at Prakitseer clinic this year. In January, an 84-year-old woman went to collect her medication and seek medical attention as she was not feeling well. The woman was turned away because the medicine was out of stock. She didn’t receive medical attention, despite the pleas of other patients at the facility. She died on her way back home. 

The Limpopo health department says it has launched an investigation into the circumstances around Revival’s death. – Health-e News