By Buziwe Nocuze
- Amahle Mathontsi lost both feet to gangrene in 2023 and now relies on a wheelchair and disability grant.
- The Western Cape health department says patients who miss appointments must arrange new referrals themselves.
Amahle Mathontsi has been waiting more than three years for prosthetic feet, after losing both to gangrene.
The 25-year-old mother of two, from Mfuleni in Cape Town, had her feet amputated in 2023 at Tygerberg Hospital. Doctors made the decision after gangrene set in the year before, leaving her skin hot, itchy and badly discoloured.
In 2024, Khayelitsha District Hospital referred her to a facility in Pinelands to be fitted with artificial feet. She missed the appointment after falling ill, and has not received prosthetics since.
Abulele Dyasi, spokesperson for the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, said Khayelitsha District Hospital refers patients needing orthotic and prosthetic care to specialised facilities, which then manage appointments and waiting lists themselves.
“If a patient misses an appointment, they must either contact the receiving facility directly to reschedule or return to KDH for assistance with a new referral,” Dyasi said.
She said the hospital remains committed to supporting patients, and urges anyone needing help with a referral to contact the relevant facility or their nearest clinic.
Mathontsi now uses a wheelchair, and says the wait has changed her daily life.
“When the doctors told me about gangrene, it was the first time I had heard the word,” she said. Before going to hospital, she consulted a traditional healer, believing her symptoms were something else.
She receives a disability grant and a child support grant for her younger child, totalling R2,600 a month. She spends R1,000 on groceries and R700 on her child’s milk, along with an insurance policy, leaving little room for other costs.
“I feel like a burden,” she said, describing having to ask others for help with tasks such as taking her two-year-old to the clinic.
Mathontsi said she hopes to get prosthetic feet so she can look for work to supplement her grant income.
Pictured above: Amahle Mathontsi lost both feet to gangrene; they were amputated in 2023.
Image source: Supplied
