Burying My Son After Years Of Pain
DEAR Minister of Health and Social Services, Richard Kamwi, my sincere apology to you sir for the content of this letter!
I work for your ministry but I will never defend it. Your ministry has some good people as well as many bad people who look at patients as a nuisance.
Expectant mothers, especially, are treated with so much disgust that you would think falling pregnant is a crime! That is why we have a lot of maternal deaths because when an expecting mother asks for help she is simply dismissed with a negative facial expression and if she insists she is snapped at, accused of trying to be special, and for that she will be dealt with harshly, simply because “what was she thinking of when she slept with a man” and “I did not send you to go and sleep with a man and fall pregnant”.
Minister Kamwi, enough of beating about the bush! Let me be more specific, these are my observations both when I am a patient and during my working hours. The worst behaved staff are nurses! Period! I have been a patient or supporting a sick relative on numerous occasions at the hospital but doctors, the people to whom we make out-of-this-world demands, are polite to us.
We get our medicine from the pharmacy and we look down on these chemists and their assistants. We think they are nothing, we expect them to dispense what is in our health passport simply because it was written by a doctor, yet patiently they explain to us and rectify whatever it is that a doctor has not done correctly. They are also professionally well-behaved. But to get there takes all sorts of ill treatment by nurses and our crime is coming to the hospital! It is worth stating that my profession is one of the three stated above.
Due to the negligence of nurses, I ended up with a disabled son who got brain damage/injuries during prolonged and complicated labour and prolonged and painful delivery! I am talking of a child who was delivered half natural, half caesarian section (for the sake of space, I will save the details but I am ready to share it with you and the public if I’m given the opportunity!).
I know what I’m saying and remember I work in your ministry now and I am familiar with medical malpractice and congenital defects/anomalies and I can comfortably distinguish between the two.
I therefore would like to inform you that I will be burying my son in three days’ time after four years of pain and suffering.
I wish you good luck and good health for you and your family.
Yours in sickness and health.
Bertha Sh
Tsandi