Another Pretoria resident has told of his shoddy treatment at the hands of staff at the Pretoria Academic Hospital after he suffered a heart attack.
His story follows those of other residents who approached Pretoria News with harrowing details of their experience at the hospital, saying they had nowhere else to turn to.
Johan de Lange, who suffered a heart attack, has told of how he was forced to give up his stretcher before being told to leave the hospital; apparently because he did not arrive in an ambulance.
De Lange, who is due to undergo a heart bypass at Pretoria Academic Hospital in July, was taken by neighbours to the hospital after he suffered a major heart attack three weeks ago. He is being treated by a cardiologist at the hospital as an outpatient.
De Lange's neighbour, Catherine Hulsenbek, who rushed him to the hospital, said when they arrived staff refused to help them.
"When I told them there was a man dying in the back of my car, several of the nurses shrugged their shoulders. Only after I carried on pleading for help did one of them point to the porters' lounge," she said.
But the porters were standing outside on a smoke break.
Hulsenbek, who was again refused assistance by nurses, was eventually forced to find a stretcher herself and enlist the help of several patients in loading De Lange on to the stretcher.
Hulsenbek said she was shocked at the treatment they received.
"When I tried to give them his patient file detailing his heart condition, the nurses said it was unnecessary. When I asked if I could provide them with his name they said they did not need it because they did not care about him," she claimed.
Hulsenbek said moments later De Lange was told to get off the stretcher as he was "not sick enough" and leave the hospital.
She said: "I could not believe it. It was obvious this man was in pain and in dire need of medical assistance yet they were refusing to treat him. When I asked why they were making De Lange leave, the nurses said because I had brought him to the hospital and not an ambulance.
"I do not understand this. It is completely ridiculous and the policy has to be changed and those unwilling to look after the sick fired."
Hulsenbek was forced to take De Lange to Tshwane District Hospital, where he discharged himself after waiting for nearly eight hours for treatment - to no avail.
De Lange said he could not understand why the hospital turned away patients who were in dire need of assistance because they did not arrive in an ambulance.
"Whatever happened to the Batho Pele principle and the Hippocratic Oath?" he asked.
"It is completely unacceptable how patients are treated by some of the staff and something has to be done," De Lange said.
The refusal by staff to treat him comes after last week's Pretoria News report on how hospital staff turned away 71-year-old heart attack victim Jeannette Bester because her daughter brought her to the hospital by car instead of calling for an ambulance.
Hospital spokesperson Fredah Kobo said the Pretoria Academic was "purely a referral hospital". The reason De Lange and Bester had been turned away was because the hospital provided specialised treatment to people who had been referred to it.
"For a patient to be admitted to our hospital they have to be referred either by a private doctor or a primary care or level One hospital such as Tshwane District Hospital," she said.
Kobo said: "We are trying our level best to address concerns over treatment and services and are hoping things will improve".