For two years, 20-year-old Sinentlahla Shinga from Bizana in the Eastern Cape believed she was being treated for Tuberculosis (TB).
But instead of getting better, her condition worsened, her body grew weaker, her skin changed colour, and eventually she became bedridden and unable to use the toilet on her own.
Her family’s worst fears were confirmed when doctors at a hospital in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, allegedly told them that Shinga had been misdiagnosed. She didn’t have TB, she had Lymphoma, and by then it had already spread throughout her body.
“She was the shadow of her former self,” said Pinky Qushwana, a relative who took her in before she died.
“She was so weak, she couldn’t even walk or eat properly. We were shocked and sad when doctors told us she had been getting the wrong treatment all along,” she said.
Qushwana said Shinga first went to St Patrick’s Hospital in Bizana in 2023 after feeling unwell. Doctors diagnosed her with TB and placed her on a six-month treatment. But when her condition didn’t improve, they prescribed another six-month course.
“Even after the second treatment, there were no changes,” Qushwana said.
“Her health just kept deteriorating. She had to move in with me because there was no-one to care for her where she lived,” she said.
As her condition worsened, Shinga’s family rushed her to Port Shepstone Hospital. By then, she was unconscious and hallucinating.
“Doctors said her sugar levels were low and found two tumours, one on her neck and another below her private parts. They couldn’t operate on the one in her neck, but removed the other. That’s when they discovered she didn’t have TB at all, it was Lymphoma cancer,” Qushwana said.
Cases of misdiagnosis are reviewed through the Patient Safety Incident committee as well as the Complaints Management Committee, where a patient or relative can lodge any complaint, including those related to alleged misdiagnosis
— Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana
Sadly, Shinga passed away two weeks ago, leaving her family devastated.
“We find comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering. But we can’t help wondering if she had received the correct treatment earlier, maybe she would still be alive,” she said.
Misdiagnosis: a deadly but preventable mistake
Misdiagnosis of TB and cancers such as Lymphoma remains a significant clinical challenge in rural parts of South Africa and other countries with high TB rates. Both diseases share overlapping symptoms, including swollen lymph nodes, fever, weight loss and night sweats, often leading clinicians to treat for the more common TB first.
A public health expert, who spoke to The Sunday Times on condition of anonymity, said TB can usually be confirmed through laboratory testing, making such cases rare but not impossible.
“This is not a very common occurrence,” he said.
“It’s possible for a patient to have both TB and another disease, like cancer. But without access to proper diagnostic tools or a full patient file, it’s hard to say what went wrong in this case,” he said.
However, studies suggest that misdiagnosis and improper treatment remain widespread issues in South Africa’s rural healthcare system. A 2021 study published in The Lancet Global Health found a high burden of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed diseases in rural areas, including cases where Lymphoma was mistaken for TB, delaying critical cancer treatment.
For Shinga’s family, those statistics have a face — a young woman whose life was cut short by a preventable error.
Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana confirmed that the department was aware of the case.
“It was investigated and is considered a closed matter,” he said.
Manana explained that there are processes in place to review cases of misdiagnosis in public healthcare facilities.
“Cases of misdiagnosis are reviewed through the Patient Safety Incident committee as well as the Complaints Management Committee, where a patient or relative can lodge any complaint, including those related to alleged misdiagnosis,” he said.
To address the shortage of diagnostic tools and trained specialists in rural hospitals such as St Patrick’s Hospital, Manana said the department has deployed a district clinical specialist team, which includes an obstetrician-gynaecologist and a specialist paediatrician.
“This is part of our strategy to place specialists in rural hospitals and improve the overall quality of care,” he added.
Manana said there are several initiatives under way to enhance cancer screening and early detection in the province.
“These include ongoing training of doctors and the provision of screening equipment to hospitals as tools of trade for doctors and nurses to use in detecting cancer,” he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.