Warning: This article contains mention of an alleged sexual assault.
Investigations into the conditions of Stellenbosch Provincial Hospital are ongoing following an incident of alleged sexual assault in 2021.
This is according to the head of communications for the Office of the Public Protector, Oupa Segalwe. “The Public Protector has made significant progress on the matter,” stated Segalwe, in written correspondence with MatieMedia.
The incident in question concerns the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in the hospital’s psychiatric ward in September 2021.
Stellenbosch resident Bronia Mc Combrink used the Stellenbosch Community Facebook group to complain about an experience that she had at the Stellenbosch Provincial Hospital. Mc Combrink claimed that she received poor service from hospital staff and that she was subject to unhygienic conditions in the hospital’s waiting room. PHOTO: Nakishka Skriker
Resident complains about service delivery
Meanwhile, a Stellenbosch resident took to Facebook recently after a negative experience regarding service delivery at Stellenbosch Provincial Hospital on 1 February.
In her post, Bronia Mc Combrink claimed that the hospital’s waiting room floors and door handles were covered in blood and her requests to have them cleaned were ignored.
In an interview with MatieMedia, she also claimed to have witnessed many people in need of urgent treatment spending hours in the waiting room. Mc Combrink expressed a desire to meet with healthcare representatives in the near future in order to discuss improvement of the hospital’s service. She said she hopes that the community and hospital can “work hand in hand to make the service better”.
Segalwe stated that the Office of the Public Protector was not aware of Mc Combrink’s concerns.
The communications officer of the Cape Winelands District, Sandra Maritz, said that an official complaint had been received following the Facebook post. In email correspondence with MatieMedia, Maritz claimed that the department will “engage with the individual [Mc Combrink] on her experience and the next steps”. She explained that the hospital utilises a triage system when assessing the needs of individual patients and patients with less serious conditions may have to “wait their turn”.
Mc Combrink’s post amassed over 100 comments on the Stellenbosch Community Facebook group. Many of the comments agreed with her criticisms of the hospital’s service.
In an interview with MatieMedia, Zeida Solomons, a Stellenbosch resident, claimed to have experienced a similar incident in which she spotted blood in the waiting room which was not cleaned upon her request.