Times Of Swaziland: NURSE SLAPS, INSULTS PATIENT WHO  HAD COME FOR TABLETS

NURSE SLAPS, INSULTS PATIENT WHO  HAD COME FOR TABLETS
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BY BONISILE MAKHUBU on 11/11/2017 03:27:00


MBABANE – A hospital is usually a place of help and hope; but for *Thembi, it
was a source of pain and shame as a male nurse slapped and insulted her
publicly.
The phrase, “Tsatsa lamaphilisi uphume naleligciwane lakho,” would always
echo in her ears as they were allegedly uttered by the nurse when he handed her
the medication she had gone to collect at the Mbabane Public Health Unit last
Wednesday.
What the nurse meant was, “Take your tablets and leave with your virus.”
As if this was not enough humiliation, the nurse identified as Ndzabandzaba,
went on and allegedly poked Thembi and also slapped her in the face while other
patients looked on.
The whole time that the derogatory statement and the assault was taking place,
Thembi was holding her three-month-old son in her arms as she had also brought
her to the public clinic for routine check-ups.
Narrating the ordeal, which she described as devastating, the 27-year-old mother
of three said she reported to the clinic like any other day, as she used to go
there even while she was pregnant.
“After registering and going through other processes, I was attended by this
nurse inside one of the consultation rooms there. Just before he finished
attending to me, I asked him where I could collect the baby’s medicine in case
it got finished before his next check-up date.”
She said the nurse asked her where she had collected same in her previous visit
and she showed him but also stated that when they gave her the medication
previously, they made it clear that it was not the place where collections were
made.