Disabled woman finally to get R500,000 ‘humanitarian’ payout from health department

I have not seen it yet but I would be happy if they would do as agreed previously that I be paid R500,000

The department of health insists it does not owe a cent to Thobeka Priscilla Jantjies, who claims she was paralysed after a tooth extraction at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane in 2002.

In March, Jeffreys Bay-born Jantjies, 47, spent a night outside the provincial health department’s offices in Bhisho in protest against nonpayment of her purported financial claim.

Jantjies was once offered a gratuitous offer of R500,000 by the department when her husband, Thomas, was still alive but is yet to formally sign or accept it.

“They told me the offer was forfeited because my husband had not signed when he died,” Jantjies told the Dispatch on Tuesday.

“For many years, I have been trying to convince them to pay me the amount which was agreed upon.”

Explaining what led to the claim, Jantjies said she lost consciousness after the extraction and was admitted to the hospital as she was unable to walk, see or speak.

She said her tongue was numb and shrinking and that it later allegedly turned out that the tooth extraction had affected her nerves.

Jantjies claimed she had not been able to walk on her own since the incident.

In a parliamentary reply to an EFF question earlier in September, health minister Dr Joe Phaahla said Jantjies would be contacted by the department’s officials before the end of September with a view to finalising the gratuitous offer by the end of October.

EFF MP Thapelo Mogale had asked Phaahla about the “reasons that his department did not settle the R500,000 compensation that was agreed to be paid to Jantjies’ family and what steps will he take to ensure that the matter is resolved”.

Phaahla said the gratuitous offer was conditional.

“In June 2013, the Eastern Cape department of health made a conditional offer of R500,000 as a full and final settlement without admission of liability.

“The offer was made purely on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

Phaahla said that in June 2011, through her lawyers, Jantjies submitted an actuarial report demanding a payment of R4.3m.

“The matter has been set down on several dates and we are not aware about any outcomes.

“There is no court order and essentially the matter is considered dormant.

“[Jantjies] has been engaging outside the court processes and pressurising the department to pay her R4,355,307.

“The department has one medical report dated June 1 2005 which is inconclusive and does not make any recommendations.

“The department is of the opinion that there is no offer, and the department should not revise or entertain [Jantjies’] demands.

“The department is advised that there was no nexus or causal link between tooth extraction and the disability that she suffers from,” Phaahla said.

He said attempts would be made to advise Jantjies that “she has no claim against the department but that the department would still be prepared to make good on its humanitarian offer”.

The department had previously organised various government departments and the private sector to help Jantjies and an RDP house was built for her in Jeffreys Bay.

The Vodacom Foundation also donated a cellular shop for Jantjies to start a business and earn an income.

Jantjies said she would accept the offer.

“I have not seen it yet but I would be happy if they would do as agreed previously that I be paid R500,000.

“I had lost hope thinking they would never pay the amount.

“The department made [it seem] as if it was [my] own doing that I was paralysed.

“They have been sending me from pillar to post instead of making the payment.

“In March, when I went to the department’s offices in Bhisho, they called police instead of helping me.

“The amount of over R4m that the department is referring to was drafted by my lawyers at the time they represented me,” Jantjies said.

She claimed she was still bedridden and in need of constant medical checkups.

Attempts to get comment from Mogale were unsuccessful on Tuesday.