Pretoria - Christopher Geyser has suffered much indignity while living on the streets of Pretoria - this has ranged from being called names to being sworn and spat at, he said.
But the worst has been being denied medical attention for a growing hernia hanging against his right groin, he said.
The pain from a seven-year-old inguinal hernia often leaves him so helpless that he collapses and passes out while he looks for something to do, and to eat on the streets.
“All I ever wanted was for the pain to be taken away, but I am being denied that,” said Geyser.
The 55-year-old is originally from Zeerust, North West, but he has lived in Pretoria for almost seven years. About two of those have been out on the street. “My home is on Church Square. Every night spent there is dangerous, because we can have our stuff stolen, or one could get killed.”
He said he tries to hide under plants on the square every night, “but most of the night is spent fighting the pain till morning”.
His health problems started seven years ago when his intestines started peeping through a small opening on his groin. “I could initially push them back, but the opening widened and they started popping out more often and causing me more pain.”
As the years went by, moving and coughing became a real pain, and work a big burden. He stopped working and started living on the street towards the end of 2014, his first visit to hospital being in February last year.
“I’d never thought of going to hospital, but when other people noticed my constant painthey advised me to go to Tshwane District Hospital.They referred me to Steve Biko.”
Surgery was performed last May, but when he left hospital, the bulge of intestines hanging painfully over his pubic area was there. He was given follow-up dates, none of which led to anything.
After a two-day stay in the hospital last September, surgeons there described his situation as dire, and said his right incarcerated inguinal hernia had put pressure on surrounding tissue, extending to the scrotum and causing pain and swelling.
A loop of his intestines had become trapped along the abdominal wall and caused obstructions, extreme pain and swelling. There was also strangulation of organs. There was an urgent need to fix the problem, the specialists said.
A charity organisation in the city heard of his plight, and after examining him, wrote a letter to the hospital, asking he be given urgent treatment and allowed post-op care and treatment.
He had this letter when he went to the hospital for an operation scheduled for this past Monday (25th), but after a 17-hour wait in the hospital’s overnight waiting area he was again turned back. “The doctor asked who these people thought they were, shoved the papers in my face and ordered me to leave.”
A dejected Geyser returned to the street heartbroken. “I had really hoped this would help, that I’d get rid of the pain.”
The physical and emotional pain was debilitating, he said, adding that his homelessness was the reason he was treated so badly - this perpetuated the cycle of looking down on homeless people.
“No one thinks we deserve any decency. We are dismissed as a nuisance on the streets, are called names by people we seek assistance from. And now healthcare is also out of our reach.”
The Health Department on Wednesday said the treatment of Geyser was regrettable, and it wanted him to return for a review of his condition.
Spokesperson Steve Mabona said: “Hospital management will conduct redress and apologise to the patient.”
After more than six visits to the hospital since his operation, most spent sitting on benches for many hours overnight, with nothing to eat or drink, Geyser said he was almost ready to give up on the chance of being free of his hernia and the raging pain. “If they fix what went wrong I would forever be grateful. If they don’t I will surely die.”
Pretoria News