Sedated patients curled between benches, the stench of urine, male and female patients in the same ward and the death of up to 15 newborns every month. This is the nightmare that greeted Public Protector Thuli Madonsela when she paid a surprise visit to the Mamelodi Regional Hospital in Tshwane.The hospital supports 23 clinics and delivers 8000 babies a year.The hospital's CEO, Lungiswa Adonis, told Madonsela that the "neglected" 400-bed hospital was battling to accommodate patients streaming into the hospital from as far as Bronkhorstpruit and Ekangala.She said: "The intensive care unit, with eight beds, cannot operate fully because we have no staff. It is only treated as a high-care ward. Our neonatal ward has 16 beds, but accommodates 25 babies. There is also a question of the shortage of trained nurses."Adonis said the unbearable working conditions prompt at least one nurse to resign from the hospital every month.In two weeks' time Adonis herself will leave. He said the hospital received no support from the provincial department of health.She said: "Gauteng health is under administration, finances are controlled by Treasury and we do not get responses quickly enough - the turnaround time is long."Adonis said the hospital was elevated from a district to regional status in 2012, with added specialists services, but it did not receive the resources its new status necessitated."We have three doctors per shift and one specialist for each discipline. Space is a challenge, some patients sleep at casualty on benches and wheelchairs," she said.Madonsela said the indignity the patients suffered was "unconstitutional and needs immediate attention". She noted that the hospital management and staff worked under extreme pressure.She said: "The community unleash anger at front-line service personnel but it is a resources issue. [My office] will look at who was supposed to do what, what would be the role of the CEO, but this is just a fact-finding mission and a proper assessment will be done."Gauteng department of health spokesman Steve Mabona said it could not comment at this stage, saying officials will check with the hospital and issue a statement."If there are issues, then we will check with the facility and take it from there. It is difficult for me to comment on something I do not know about," he said...