From Gaborone to Francistown, Selebi to Maun, Gantsi to Goodhope, Molepolole to Mahalapye, Serowe to Mochudi, Palapye to Kanye, Bobonong to Ramotswa, members of the public are telling painful stories about the abuse they have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of unusually cruel hospital workers. The alleged culprits, some locals others foreigners, include everyone from cleaners to security guards to porters to nurses to doctors. The abuse itself is in the form of both physical and emotional abuse. The testimonies being made seem highly credible because those making them use their real names and quote very precise details about who did what to them when.
Those making them were responding to an apology on the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page about an incident at Princess Marina Referral Hospital in which a first-time mother self-delivered her baby. The mother made a TikTok video detailing her ordeal – which prompted the apology. Many say the apology is not genuine, pointing to decades-long ill-treatment of patients and the Ministry’s inaction even when such ill-treatment is reported to authorities.
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