‘Nurses ill-treat and victimise HIV/Aids folk‘

By Nomahlubi Sonjica

COMMUNITY health workers dealing with HIV/Aids patients complain that some nurses in clinics where antiretrovirals (ARV‘s) are administered are insensitive to patients and fail to keep their HIV-status confidential.

They say the conduct of certain individuals are so insensitive and unprofessional that patients say it is a nightmare to visit clinics.

“When we attended training sessions, we were taught the manner in which we should treat our patients. But when we got to the clinics I found that nurses sometimes shouted at patients and did not show that they cared about what they did,” said an anonymous health worker, who fears victimisation.

Her colleague said another important issue was confidentiality.

According to Lokose Mthethwa, a patient who is open about her status, the treatment people living with HIV/Aids get from clinics is “painful” because nurses shout at them and openly discuss their treatment out loudly in front of other patients. As a result, most people resorted to going to clinics in town rather than getting treatment in the township clinics.

“If you go for testing, for instance, they (the nurses) say it out so loud that those who‘ve come for testing should move to the other side of the clinic.”

Mthethwa said nurses often shouted at people, when they got sick and that they told them the reason they got sick was because they abused alcohol.

“One day I was at the clinic to collect a milk formula for my baby when the nurses loudly told me that I should go away because my results had not come back to say that I was eligible to get the formula.”

Mthethwa, who is also a counsellor, said people died because they feared being victimised in clinics: “Not all people have money to go to clinics in town to receive better treatment.”

“We are trying very hard to live positively and accept that we are infected, but when people go to the clinic, they feel ashamed of their status,” said Mpho Chatfield of Motherwell. Chatfield said his other concern was that people living with HIV/Aids were grouped together.

“I did not choose to be HIV positive, but some nurses really make us feel like we are victims and that we are not totally human.”

Nikiwe Nyamakazi, who works at Laphuma Ilanga home-based care centre, in Zwide, said she had also heard complaints from HIV patients, who felt it was a drag going to the clinic because they did not receive proper treatment.

“They often complain that they can‘t get sick and go to the clinic because they are told there is no cure for their disease.”

Nyamakazi said the rooms used for counselling made it clear it was for people with suspected HIV/Aids: “They say they are referred to specific rooms and people immediately know that a specific room is meant for the treatment of people living with HIV/Aids.”

Nyamakazi said one of her patients could not go to the clinic for treatment as he was struggling to walk, but the nurses told her to put the patient on a wheelbarrow.

“They said they would not come to the centre and give him an injection. We had to find our transport.”

HIV/Aids counsellor, Khayalethu Pondo, said: “It is true that some nurses, not all of them, have attitudes towards people living with HIV/Aids, thereby breaching the clause they should be adhering to.”

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) provincial organiser, Portia Ngcaba, said although nurses did not have a right to shout at patients, there needed to be an investigation into what was happening at clinics. She added that patients needed to understand the pressure that nurses worked under.

According to health department spokesman Mzukisi Ndara inhumane conduct is not acceptable. “What needs to be encouraged is that people who are treated unprofessionally should report the incident to clinic supervisors.”

He said there was a toll-free number for people to call and report incidents.

nsonjica@johnnicec.co.za