By Bronwyn M Singh
The Newcastle Clinic has yet again come under fire after a 53-year-old man was allegedly incorrectly treated. Speaking to the Newcastle Express, Shantal Singh, wife of the patient, Dushanth Singh, said that her husband began experiencing chest pains on Sunday, 1 May.
The couple then sought medical attention at the Newcastle Clinic on that Monday after the chest pains had worsened.
“My husband was attended to by the nurses who then suggested that he return the next day (Tuesday) to see a doctor. We went in on that Tuesday and we were then told that due to staff shortages we should come back on Wednesday,” alleged Shantal.
She then returned to the clinic with her husband on Wednesday, however, due to there being no doctors they were told to come back on Thursday. “We returned to the clinic at half past six that Thursday morning and he was then attended to by one of the doctors there. My husband explained to the doctor that he had been suffering with severe chest pains, shortness of breath, pain in the middle of his back as well as perspiration. The doctor did not do a physical examination and told my husband that the pain was due to his ulcers and he should go home and drink milk. He was also prescribed Panado for the pain,” explained Shantel.
Dushanth, who had been suffering with the symptoms since Sunday evening, then returned to work. Seeing that the pain had not subsided, the couple then sought assistance from Dr Maharaj who performed an ECG. “When Dr Maharaj saw the results of the ECG, he had come to the conclusion that my husband had suffered a heart attack and immediately gave us a referral letter to go to Madadeni Hospital that very same day. When we arrived there, we were immediately attended to by the nurses and a doctor. After further blood tests and another ECG it was discovered that Dushanth had suffered a major heart attack and was taken into ICU,” she explained.
Additional tests revealed that Dushanth’s heart was also enlarged. An emotional Shantal then returned to the clinic the next day to inform the matron in charge of what had happened to her husband.
“I was blatantly turned away with not even an apology. I then approached the nurse who and initially attended to my husband and her response was that it is very unfortunate because the staff are suffering from burnout. This experience has been very traumatic as we have three small children at home and my husband could have died. We cannot afford medical aid so we, like many others, rely on and put our lives in the hands of government health workers, only for them to play chess with it,” she tearfully said.
Dushanth has since been referred to Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg where he will either receive stents or open heart surgery. More complaints regarding the clinic have since surfaced, of nurses allegedly being rude to patients and reducing them to tears. No comment was available from the clinic at time of going to print.
