KZN patient was told to leave clinic while waiting for ambulance

Health-e News KZN patient was told to leave clinic while waiting for ambulance Thirty-year-old Sthembile Mkhize from KwaNyuswa in KwaZulu-Natal says she is afraid to return to her local clinic after she was told to leave the facility during the night while waiting for an ambulance to take her to hospital.

Mkhize says she arrived at the 24-hour Halley Stott Clinic with her boyfriend at around 3pm on 10 September after experiencing abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe weakness.

Mkhize says she was taken to the high care unit where healthcare workers placed her on a drip and inserted a urinary catheter.

She says nurses informed her that an ambulance had been called to transfer her to St Mary’s Hospital.

Mkhize and her boyfriend, Nkululeko, say they waited for several hours but the ambulance did not arrive.

At about 8pm Mkhize says she told the night-shift nurse that she was tired of waiting and the nurse asked her to wait until 10pm.

According to Mkhize the ambulance had still not arrived by 1am.

She says after repeatedly asking how much longer they would have to wait for the ambulance, the same nurse asked her to sign a form.

Her catheter was then removed and she was told to leave the health facility.

Mkhize says she did not have enough time to read the document and was not given a copy.

She believes she was asked to sign a release form stating that she had refused treatment.

Mkhize and Nkululeko say they spent the rest of the night outside the clinic waiting for daylight before they were able to take a taxi home.

Afraid to return Mkhize posted about the experience on social media shortly after being asked to leave the clinic.

She says clinic management contacted her the following day to apologise for the incident.