The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has held a celebration as Barbara Hogan replaced the controversial Mbeki confidant and Aids denialist minister Tshabalala-Msimang.
Hogan, a woman from white working class roots in Benoni the East Rand spent 8 years in jail after joining the ANC underground. She was close to Andrew Feinstein, the ANC member who helped open up and fight corruption in government and wrote After the Party.
Like Feinstein, who was fired by Mbeki as the ANC head of Scopa, the parliamentary accounts committee for investigating that arms deal, Hogan’s principled stance also ran into trouble.
As chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee Hogan sought to ensure the provision of drugs to fight HIV.
She was called in and reprimanded by President Mbeki for querying Trevor Manual, the minister of finance’s budget because Manual had not costed the provision of anti retro virals (ARV’s) into his budget. Like Feinstein she was also fired from her position as chairperson.
Fantastic news that she is in government.
Related deployments:
Hurray!
What I love about Achmat is his ability to convey complex ideas in a language that is accessible to ordinary people. He has a vitality and clarity of purpose that is really inspiring.
Hogan seems to have struggle cred AND genuine street cred which is a rare combination these days. Hopefully the next few months will show us what she is all about.
Now all we have to do is get rid of that dim D.G. Thami Mseleku and the world will be a qualitatively better place.
After having read After the Party I was wondering a lot about Barbara Hogan. Thinking she must be extremely frustrated and how long she would last inside the ANC.
It seems she was right to hold out, but I’m still disappointed that others (Kader Asmal for instance) did not speak out earlier as Feinstein had done. We should not have reached this low point in SA politics.
Achmat is really impressive. I think one of the few individual leaders that could stand a chance to save the Scorpoins is Achmat.
If he lead a civil society movement to do so it would be a very powerful force no doubt. He has the pro poor and struggle credentials bar none and it would be very hard for the ANC to attack him and make accusations stick.
[...] news immediatly followed as Barbabra Hogan was appointed Health Minister, replacing Aids denialist and Mbeki confidant Manto Shabalala [...]
With your help we can stop this before it’s you or me or our loved ones
Another life lost at the Krugersdorp Private Hospital all due to the negligence’s of the doctors and staff. On Saturday the 10th of April 2010 at around 6:45 a patient arrives by ambulance at the hospital with a mild stroke. After been attended to by the casualty doctor and staff she is sent to High-Care for further tests to be done by a doctor. I her sister was with her the whole time, I filed in all the forms which was so required by the hospital and got a brief lecture as to the rules and regulations of the hospital. I waited with my sister for the doctor to come and attend to her, by about 11:00pm still no doctor had come to see her. I asked the sister in charge (her name was Granny) when was the doctor coming to see my sister and she said she did not know. I was very tired and left soon after that making sure that Granny the sister in charge was aware of how critical my sister’s condition was and I was going home to rest for a while but they should phone if my sister’s condition changed or if the doctor came there, she was supposed to call me. She said yes she would take good care of my sister and would phone me if there was any news. I went back to my sisters bedside and said that I would be going home to rest a bit but that I would be back first thing in the morning. We said our good night’s and I left for the night….as the doctor still had not arrived.
The next morning I phoned the hospital to follow up on my sister and was told that she was sleeping. I then asked if the doctor had been there already and she said no but he should be in just now. I got dressed and left for the hospital. I arrived at High-Care unit to find my sister still in the same manner as I had left her the previous night, but I also noticed that her condition had gotten worse and she was still complaining of the throbbing pain on the side of her face. I again asked where was the doctor and why had no doctor came to see her and I was told yet again that he should be there just now. By now my sister was much weaker and her temperature had passed the 38 mark and still no doctor. My sister and I chatted for some time then breakfast arrived and although my sister did not want to she still managed to eat a little bit. As I fed her breakfast I noticed that she was getting even more weaker and she just wanted to sleep, I had to keep talking to her to keep her awake.
After breakfast we still chatted (as there was nothing wrong with her mind) and then the staff asked where her toiletries were and I said we did not bring any but I would go and fetch some. Again I expressed my concern about my sisters critical condition and why still no doctor had come to see her. I was told yet again that he should be arriving just now. I told the sister in charge ( sister Luida Hetzen) that I was just going to go and get some toiletries for my sister but if the doctor came she was to call me straight away. I left got her toiletries and went back. I got back and asked sister Luida Hetzen if the doctor had been there and again she said no not yet but he should be arriving just now to do his rounds as all the 5 patients in the High-Care Unit were his patients. I again explained how critical my sisters condition was and almost a day latter after being admitted to the ICU no doctor had yet been to see her. She said she was sorry but that the doctor did know that my sister was there and we just had to wait till he got there.
By then lunch had arrived and my sister was getting weaker and weaker and I was finding it very difficult to keep her awake. Again she did not want to eat but she had a spoon full of food but she was even to sleepy to chew and swallow her food. I kept asking for the doctor but was told every time that he would be arriving there any minute now. I was getting tired of hearing the same thing that the doctor would be there shortly ….this is the same story from the previous night it was passed 12oclock and still no doctor. The doctor eventually arrived a while after lunch AROUND 13:30 and started with the first patient by the door and worked his way to my sisters bed. He got there and he did not look at me or my sister. His head was down the whole time and he just kept muttering something about the charts not been signed and he was in a mood to tell somebody off….and he just kept on and on….
He Dr.N. J. G. Brand just kept complaining about everything. He started to write something in my sisters chart and it looked as he was about to leave to see the patient on the next bed. He still had not greeted me or my sister. I then interrupted his complaining about the paper work and said this is my sisters condition she is still complaining about the throbbing pain on the side of her face her temperature is very high its ofver 38.2 etc…..why is that? He was still busy writing and replied without looking up and a very abrupt manner and quite a bit upset that I had disturbed him while he was busy writing and said, I DON’T KNOW!
He then looked at the monitor and must have seen that her temperature was way past 38.2. He carried on writing in the chart and still complaining the whole time about this and that and said to the sister to get some blood test done and give her some suppositories for her fever and left to the next patient. I was very shocked at the manner in which he treated my sisters condition. He is a doctor and he should have know that that throbbing pain my sister had on the side of her head / face was a blood cold….He should also know that there is an injection you can give a person who has a blood clot to dissolve it. Yet he did nothing!!!
She was in a very critical stage, if he had bothered to read her file he would have seen that it was not even a year since she had open heart surgery, it was not even 7months ago she was diagnosed with colon cancer and had been operated on. If he had taken his time to read her file he would have read that it was only in that very past week that she had finished her 6month chemo tablets course.
But Dr. Brand had not seen/read anything like that because he was too occupied about something other paper work problem than a his patient in from of him in a very critical condition after having a stroke the previous day.
All too soon he had left the ICU, I went up to the sister and asked what tests had the doctor ordered to be done on my sister and she said she was not told to do any test except a blood test and to insert some suppositories for her fever.
I was very upset at this news and said that I would like another doctor to attend to my sister because if Dr. Brand was to carry on being her doctor my sister would surely die. I was told that she / I could not request another doctor to see my sister as the patient had to ask herself. I said fine that I requested another doctor to attended to my sister, I was then told that he had left already but he would be back a bit latter and I could talk to him then.
I just could not believe this, how the had doctor treated my sister. He never even looked at her and when I asked him a simple question his very rude answer was, I DON’T KNOW! Surely any doctor should know what to do when a person has a stroke, what procedures are to be taken, what tests are to be done, what follow up test are necessary…..yet all he did was rate and rave about paper work. I waited there with my sister as family members came in and out and as I told them what had happened with the doctor they all just shook their heads in disbelieve.
By now it was past 8pm and the doctor had not arrived yet and of course when I asked the staff I was again told he would be in any minute now. By 8:30 I was still there one of my brother’s was also there with my sister. I said to my sister and my brother that I was going home to rest but I would be back in a few hours or early the next morning. I said my goodbye’s and good night’s to my brother and sister, kissed my sister goodnight and that I would be back a bit later or early in the morning. She said goodnight and I left her bedside
. I went up to the sister Granny and expressed my uttermost concern as to my sisters critical condition. I told her to please keep an extra careful eye on her as her fever was still over 38 and she was very tired and sleepy and she was still complaining of the pain on the right hand side of her face. I said am going home now to rest a bit but please phone me should the doctor come to see her or if there are any changes whatsoever in her condition. After being assured by sister Granny that she would do that I left the ICU with one last look back at my sister.
The next morning around 5:45 the sister of the ICU phones me that my sister had brought up around 11pm last night and now she had had a seizure and they were moving her to the Medical ICU. I rushed there to find a lot of activity around my sisters bed. There were sisters, nurses and the doctor from the casualty department as her doctor still had not come to see her. I waited a few moments and then I went in to see her.
She looked terrible, she was just lying there on life support I looked at the monitor her temperature was 39.9. I was very, very upset and asked where her doctor was and was told that he had not been there yet…why was I not surprised. I could not believe it.
I went in and started talking to my sister and I held her hand and begged her to hold my hand but there was nothing. I carried on speaking to her and by then a sister came to me and said that she was the sister who would be taking care of my sister and started telling me the rules and regulation of the hospital regarding visiting hours etc….and that I was not supposed to be there.
I sort of lost it at that moment and expressed my feelings in no uncertain terms as to the treatment my sister had received thus far at this hospital from nurses, to sisters and doctors and that she must not tell me what to do.
I said to them, this is my sister she is not just another number she is a human being, she is my sister so don’t you tell me what to do. I took my sister’s hand and spoke to her and noticed that her lips had started to go slightly purple I opened her eyes and saw that her pupils were already dilated. I started to shout at the sister to do some as her temperature was nearly 40 her colour was changing and her pupils were dilated already.
As i said that the monitor started sounding the alarm that her heart had stopped.
I could not take it any more and I started shouting for them to get someone to help.
They then started calling for help, saying code ….in the Medical ICU, within a few minutes there was a lot of staff, nurses, sisters and also an emergency doctor from the casualty department all there trying to help her
But all too late my sister was not longer with us, she passed away at around 8:30am and yes you guessed it.
Her doctor still had not arrived! He was still on his way….
This is just mere one of the incidents which happens at Krugersdorp Private Hospital, I myself have been a victim of such a case at the same hospital….till today I do not know how I managed to discharge myself out of that hospital (semi-conscious) and was then taken to another hospital where I was given the care a human being deserves. I woke up a few days later from a coma in another hospital. I can only thank the Lord for giving me the strength to somehow get out of Krugersdorp private hospital and to be taken to another hospital where doctors and staff actually treat their patients like a human being and not just a number.
I have lodged a complaint with the Hospital’s General Manager Resa Van Der Merwe and I will be taking the matter further and opening a criminal / compatible homicide case against Dr. Brand, for his negligence’s which caused my sister’s death. I know it’s too late to do anything now for my sister as she can no longer come back to us, but we her family are here and I her sister will do whatever it takes to make sure that this sort of negligence does not happen again at Krugersdorp Private Hospital their staff and the doctors working there.
My dearest sister you always went out of your way to help anyone that needed something, you would go out of your way to please everybody and make sure they were happy and comfortably. Yet when you needed someone to help you the most…they just left you there to die!
We will miss you terribly and I will do my best to make sure your memory lives on and also try my best (with help from up above or anyone here) that what happened to you does not happen to anybody there again.
There have been a lot of cases like this one at this hospital, but we do not have the money to take this matter further. We are appealing to you the people who can stand up for us to please help us in any way possible to make our voice heard and make sure this sort of thing does not happen again.
Next time it could be you or me…or our loved ones.
Please help
Rosa
Hi Rosa, that is a terrible and sad story.