24 June 2002
The Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Mpumalanga Health MEC Sibongile Manana are to visit Philadelphia Hospital in Mpumalanga today. The visit comes after M-NET's Carte Blanche programme broadcast a story about the alleged abuse of patients admitted for termination of pregnancy at the hospital last night.
The Minister and the MEC will meet the hospital management and discuss corrective measures that need to be taken on this matter. The media is invited to join the Minister and the MEC when they visit the hospital at 14h00 today (24 June 2002).
In a media statement released immediately after the programme last night, Minister Tshabalala-Msimang said:
"I am appalled by the suffering inflicted by some health workers at Philadelphia Hospital on young women admitted for termination of pregnancy. The treatment exposed by the Carte Blanche team represents a grotesque miscarriage of the law that we enacted five years ago to facilitate access to safe and legally sanctioned termination of pregnancy, with respect for the dignity of all women who exercised this option."I will leave no stone unturned - and will tolerate no delay - in having the alleged practices at this particular hospital fully investigated and ensuring that appropriate corrective and disciplinary measures are taken. I trust that the Nursing Council will also take up the matter with due seriousness.
"In the light of allegations that similar abuses are occurring at other state hospitals, I would like to invite anybody in possession of evidence or any woman who has experience of such malpractice, to contact my legal advisor, Advocate Patricia Lambert (cell - 082 566 3608) or the head of our women's health section, Dr Eddie Mhlanga (cell - 083 459 6112). Your communication will be treated as confidential."