The hidden cost of public healthcare: Limpopo woman misses treatment when transport money runs out

Health-e News The hidden cost of public healthcare: Limpopo woman misses treatment when transport money runs out 55-year-old Dinah Mlambo, who lives with large open growths on her knee, is supposed to travel 26.5 km from her home in Zebediela, Limpopo to a clinic two to three times a week for wound care.

But since losing her job in February this year because of the pain and impact on her mobility, the 55-year-old mother and grandmother sometimes misses treatment because her family cannot afford the taxi fare, which can reach up to R4000,00 per month.

Dinah has two large growths around her knee where the skin has broken open.

The area sometimes bleeds and needs regular cleaning.

“I spend most of my nights awake because of the pain.” She can still walk with difficulty using crutches, but says the condition has changed her life and left her unable to work.

“This has affected me so much, I stress about what my children will eat,” she says.

From leg pain to knee surgery Dinah says her health problems started in 2023 with a painful knee and what she describes as a ‘small pimple-like bump’ on her leg.

At the time, she was still able to work and take care of her daily household chores.

As the pain worsened, she sought medical treatment in 2025.

Dinah says doctors told her she would need surgery on her knee but didn’t explain why.

She says she underwent surgery at Mokopane Hospital in October last year.

“After the operation, I stayed off work for six weeks, and then I went back to work in January 2026,” she says.

A photograph provided to Health-e News shows a long surgical scar across Dinah’s knee following the operation.

But by February this year, Dinah says the small bump on her leg had grown bigger and she was struggling to move around.