FULL THREAD: Zimbabwean Man Narrates How Hospitals Refused To Treat His Wheezing Son

4 years agoThu, 26 Mar 2020 02:53:12 GMT

FULL THREAD: Zimbabwean Man Narrates How Hospitals Refused To Treat His Wheezing Son

A Zimbabwean man Rashid Salimu resident in Mutare, a city in the Eastern parts of the country, has posted on Twitter narrating how Hospitals in the city refused to treat his wheezing son.

He said his son has always had the condition but the health institutions thought he was exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.

We present below his twitter thread.

My son had a history of wheezing, got into an attack this morning 0230 hours. We called in an ambulance and took him to his traditional hospital Netlife in Mutare and they refused to attend to him; they said they were closed thus not taking in any new patients.

Meanwhile, the ambulance crew was nebulising him. We had to move to the next hospital Murambi and they too were not taking in any patients. Left with no choice we went to Mutare General Hospital where he literally received no attention at all. They advised us to come back later.

He was somewhat better after being nebulised by the ambulance crew so we took him back home. Unfortunately, around 0530 hours he got into another attack and we were helpless knowing what we had gone through earlier. We called Seventh Avenue Medical Centre who said we could come.

Upon arrival wet paid the required amount; they called in the doctor but he refused to come once he knew our son was wheezing. They ended up refunding us. A friend then gave us Dr Mhlanga’s contact of Uptown Clinic and we explained our situation and he asked us to bring him in.

Only then did he get to be attended to. Surely is this the way we are handling thus #COVID2019 situation as a country? By turning away patients? Worse still one who is a traditional patient with a problem you already are aware of.

It is so heartbreaking to go through what we did this morning as a family, as a parent, as a father. Being so vulnerable and so helpless.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Ace Ambulance crew for the professional service and for the medical team at Uptown Clinic for reaching out in our time of need