I have stayed silent for too long, but enough is enough.

What is happening to my friend Yashvir (Jumbo) Misrilal at Helen Joseph Hospital is not just medical negligence — it is cruelty. He is a diabetic who has already lost part of his leg, and yet he is lying in a hospital bed with an open, untreated wound. The smell of raw flesh and blood is unbearable. He is disorientated, weak, and slipping in and out of consciousness — and no one seems to care.

This isn’t just about Yashvir. It’s about every patient in that hospital and across our country who is being failed by a system that is supposed to heal, not harm. It’s about the families who walk out shattered because their loved ones are treated like nothing more than numbers. It’s about the nurses who laugh, ignore, and mock while people lie there in pain. It’s about dignity. Humanity. Justice.

I wrote to the hospital’s acting CEO and included his own words about building a culture of patient-centered care. But what I witnessed today is the opposite of everything that statement claims. No urgency. No empathy. No accountability.

The dressing kit was brought in and left there — because the nurse was “too busy.” I stood by and watched my friend lie with his flesh exposed, knowing full well how easily infection could set in again. I could smell it. I could feel the weight of that room. And I will never forget the look in his eyes.

How many more have to suffer like this? How many more families have to break down in corridors? How many more times must people beg for help, only to be met with silence or smirks?

We have collected evidence. Videos. Photos. Records. We never wanted to expose anyone — we just want Yashvir (Jumbo) to live. But if going public is the only way to get someone to care, then so be it.

Our people deserve better. Our citizens deserve basic human decency. Healthcare is not a privilege — it’s a right. And right now, that right is being stripped away from too many. I have emailed, reached out to every single person that I can think of. If this is the public health care system we as a country are failing our people. Doctors don’t communicate with families. It’s so disturbing. After recent surgery the patient now says he has no feeling from the waist down and is on diapers. Please make this make sense???

Please share. Please speak up. Someone’s life depends on it. Gauteng Health Department Panyaza Lesufi Gayton Mckenzie

#JusticeForYashvir #FixOurHealthcare #HelenJosephHospital #EnoughIsEnough #SouthAfricaDeservesBetter