OIPAPAKANE – A woman who had and arm and a leg amputated and is suffering chronic pain from two snakebite incidents, accused health workers of running away from her.
Elizabeth Joseph, a 43-year-old woman said she lost hope in the State hospital because nurses are always sending her away.
Joseph said she is not happy when nurses and doctors are discouraging her from going to the hospital.
“Whenever they see me they ask me why I come to the hospital. They told me there are no medication to cure me. It’s better to stay home,” she added.
Joseph said it stresses her when health workers are running away from her because they are the ones supposed to give her counselling.
When New Era visited her homestead at Oipapakane village in the Ohangwena region, she narrated that she was bitten by a snake twice on different occasions.
“First I was bitten in 2015 when I was still at work in Omafo where I was collecting cans under the tree. This caused my arm and one leg to be cut off,” she narrates.
She added that in 2021 during the night, a snake again bit her while she was sitting in her wheelchair in the house.
Joseph describes how almost 70% of her body has turned black and says at first glance, people think she is dressed in black clothes. But the worst is the pain, which she says feels like her entire body has been set on fire.
She narrated that sometimes she feels a movement of a snake moving through her body, especially when she is sleeping and also maggots moving.
“Now the whole body is turning dark. It is almost reaching my chest. Life has become worse because sometimes I want to commit suicide,” she lamented.
She added she does not sleep at night and it is not easy for her to fight this battle.
Furthermore, she stressed that despite Pentecostal church pastors visiting her three times and offered prayers, her situation remains the same.
Her medication, received from the hospital is also not helping to improve her situation. However, it gets worse.
In addition, Joseph refused assertions from her villagers that she was bitten by a spiritual snake sent by a woman whom she slept with her husband.
“I know it is a spiritual snake that bites me but it is not because I slept with someone’s husband. I am already in pain but people are still spreading rumours about me,” she said.
Despite the social grants she receives from the government, she appeals to good Samaritans to help her finding better medical care at the private hospitals so she can recover from excruciating pain.
In addition, she said she sleeps in her wheelchair as she is unable to lift her swollen leg onto the bed.
Also speaking to New Era, Joseph’s firstborn, Penehafo Johannes said they accepted her mother’s situation.
“What else can we do? We left her in God’s hands. I still believe that one day my mom will recover completely,” she said. Johannes, who is upgrading her grade 12 results, said her mother’s situation gives her the courage to study hard.
Health director in the Ohangwena region, Johannes Hango said his office sent social workers to offer counselling to Joseph twice.
“I am also shocked when nurses are running from Joseph. This is not good at all because she is in real pain,” Hango said.