Frantic mother told to ‘join the queue’

Relieved Mzingazi mother Kholiwe Khumalo and her 18 month-old daughter Nkosenhle - saved in the nick of time. With them is CPF Mzingazi Chairperson, Sharon Mdletshe

A distraught mother seeking urgent help at a local clinic for her toddler struggling to breathe, was told to wait her turn in a queue. Desperate Mzingazi mother, Kholiwe Khumalo, rushed her 18 month-old baby, Nkosenhle, to the local clinic near her home after the toddler had pushed sugar beans up her nose. Battling to breathe, it was a life or death situation, but staff at the local clinic reportedly told her to wait in the queue to weigh her baby. ‘We were pleading with them to help the child, but they insisted we must stand in a long queue,’ said CPF Mzingazi Chairperson, Sharon Mdletshe, who assisted the mother. ‘I immediately decided to rush the mother and child to the uMhlathuze City Clinic in Richards Bay,’ said Mdletshe. ‘Within seconds of our arrival she was taken to the emergency room and helped.’ ‘At Richards Bay, it took them only seconds to solve the emergency, yet at the first clinic this was obviously too much for them. The nurses clearly displayed a shocking don’t care attitude,’ said Mdletshe. ‘The clinic has no time for people and no compassion, especially for the old people who sit in queues from 4am.’ uMhlathuze City Health Director, Ziphi Dladla, applauded the staff at Richards Bay clinic, adding that they always went out of their way to help the community, especially vulnerable groups. ‘In Empangeni and Richards Bay, babies up to three months do not wait in queues. They are always treated as an emergency,’ said Dladla.