Health department denies family was left untreated after car crash
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The Limpopo Department of Health has slammed claims that a family was left untreated at the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital after being involved in an accident.
EWN reported on Thursday that an elderly woman and her two grandchildren, who suffered extensive injuries, were told that all the doctors were on leave and nothing could be done for them.
The woman and her family were apparently travelling home for the Christmas holidays when the accident happened.
However, department spokesperson Neil Shikhwambana denied the claims on Friday, December 28.
“The family were involved in an accident. They did go to Louis Trichardt Hospital, but those things that were written is not the reality of what had happened,” he said.
“Those people were seen by doctors and even referred.”
Shikhwambana said the woman was attended to by a general practitioner and later referred to a orthopedic specialist at Polokwane Provincial Hospital.
He said Louis Trichardt patients were referred to other hospitals because there were no specialists at the hospital.
“It is not possible to expect to be seen by specialists... Louis Trichardt is not even a regional hospital, it is a level one hospital," he said.
Meanwhile, Shikhwambana said the hospital’s CEO, Dr Irene Malatji, had been suspended after workers went on strike calling for her to resign. They accused her of maladministration, corruption and nepotism.