Aidan John Walsh, West Beach
I lost my job after Covid and having fallen on hard times have been a patient at the Dunoon hospital a couple of times. (“Dunoon hospital accused of poor service”, Tabletalk, September 6).
Most recently at the end of last year, I needed medical and dental clearance for employment. The dentist and one of his assistants conspired to frustrate, humiliate and ultimately assault me, for reasons I cannot begin to fathom.
To be fair, there are a few lovely doctors and nurses, decent human beings who genuinely care. The acting manager at the time did well to placate the situation, but she failed to address the seriousness of my accusations adequately.
I took my complaint to the Health Professions Council of South Africa who forced me to relive the experience daily for nearly two weeks before even accepting the complaint.
Their inhumane cut-and-paste correspondence made it abundantly clear that without my own lawyer, the doctor would get away with it, and he has.
Who knows how many people that doctor has abused or how many more he might still, having moved on to another practice?
I know first-hand the horror of the treatment that can be expected by the patients at the hospital.
I have walked kilometres, stood in the baking sun, and sat in queues for hours with the people of Dunoon, and been turned away. The inhumanity is appalling at what is very nearly a state-of-the-art facility.
This cannot happen in our country any longer, and I will stand with my people in protest.
Provincial health department spokeswoman Natalie Watlington responds:
We acknowledge the feedback shared by Mr Walsh and can confirm that our management team at Dunoon Community Health Centre and the provincial health department have investigated the matter, as all allegations of ill treatment are taken very seriously in the interest of our patients. The matter was investigated by the Health Professions Council of South Africa who found that our practitioner acted professionally and ethically.
