A Wespark family is mourning the death of their 19-year-old daughter who, they claim, would still be alive today if hospital staff had acted sooner to save her from an overdose last Friday (May 25).
A member of the Govender family, recounted how events had unfolded leading to the tragic death of Evette Govender of Middle Crescent. “At around 1pm, Evette had returned home from a visit to a friend. Soon thereafter, about half an hour later, another close friend came to see her. As the friend entered Evette’s room, she found Evette lying on her bed, looking completely dazed. There were capsules scattered all over her bedroom floor,” one of the family members told the Laudium Sun journalists. The family member went on to say that the teen was immediately rushed to Kalafong Hospital where, the family claims, she was left for close to two and a half hours, before being assisted by doctors.
Evette's eldest sister, Nolene (23) cried: “We were told to come to the hospital, because my sister wasn't feeling well. When we got there, Evette was on a drip and was being given oxygen. We kept calling the nurses to come and check up on her, to tell us what was going on. We explained to the nurses that Evette had overdosed on tablets and that she needed to have her stomach pumped. They kept telling us that they were treating her, but we saw nothing happening until it was too late and my baby sister had left us,” added Nolene before completely breaking down in tears.
Nolene claimed, “If only the doctors had treated her sooner, they could have saved her. This was an emergency and they should have treated her accordingly. Why didn't they pump her stomach? She was just put onto drips and something kept beeping, indicating that she needed to be checked, but each time we called the nurses, they ignored us.”
Taking the oath
“These are people who have taken oaths to be in the profession and have undertaken to save lives, but they can't even live up to that oath. What are we to think when human life is given so little importance? What were they busy doing while Evette was fighting for her life?” questioned the frantic Nolene.
“When it comes to a person's life and situations like this, there is no time to play around. Each minute counts. We are definitely not going to let this issue slide. Today, it was our baby sister, tomorrow it could be the mother of a little child or a newborn baby. These people need to act more professionally and treat patients with care and compassion, and not just leave them lying on a bed attached to a drip, without a doctor being called to check on the situation,” added the angered Nolene.
Gossip
“In the community that we live in, the tragedy did not hold back the gossip and the speculation of wagging tongues. Some callous types have speculated that my sister was pregnant and had therefore taken her life. Others claimed she overdosed after an argument that she had with my parents,” added the sad sister.
The rumours had also reached the ears of Evette’s bereaved parents, Gordon and Alicia Govender, who said, “People can talk as much as they want, but no one apart from the Almighty and Evette will really know what happened on that tragic day. Our family is reeling from grief and we cannot understand how mean some people can be, to make up such horrid rumours about our baby girl. What is surprising is that so many of them don't even know our daughter or our family, so where do they get the right to judge us? We have lost a child. Our family is going through such immense pain and heartache. The last thing we need is to hear people badmouth our child and our family. We need the support, love and prayers of the people in our community and, if they can't offer us that, then they should at least stop talking badly about our beloved Evette,” said the devastated parents, adding,
“Evette was our pride and joy. And now, God has taken her away to be in His garden of roses. We are no one to question what He does. When we are born, it is already determined when we will join Him again. The only thing we are unsure of is how we will go back. So to all those callous people who have been spreading nasty rumours about why Evette is gone, think first before you say these hurtful things. Think about what our family is going through. Today it is us, tomorrow it could be you!”
The communications officer for Kalafong Hospital, Catherine Tladi, told the Laudium Sun, 'These allegations are very serious and they will be investigated. I cannot comment further at this stage.”
The late Evette Govender (19).