DOCTORS promised to come back to help deliver her baby. but they never came back and the child died! Maria Ndweni (23) from Evaton, Vaal, alleges that she was forced to stay with a dead baby in her tummy for four days at Sebokeng Hospital.
Maria said she was admitted to Sebokeng Hospital on Monday, 26 September, and was told that she was going to give birth by cesarean section on Tuesday morning, 27 September. She said she was told that she’d be made a priority as her blood pressure was high.
She claimed that the doctor left her at the time that he should have helped her and went to help another patient, promising that when he comes back, he’d start delivering her child. She said that didn’t happen and hours later, a nurse checking her told her that her unborn child died hours ago and that the doctor should have assisted her first before attending to other patients.
According to Ndweni, the doctors attended to her and promise to do a cesarean section on the same day to take out the dead child. She claimed that didn’t happen and it took the hospital staff four days to help her.
This was after her boyfriend was now fighting with the nurses at ward 6. Ndweni’s boyfriend, Mpho Moutlanyana (28), said he was very hurt to have lost their first child at a place where they thought he would be safe. He said he thought his girlfriend was in good hands, but they failed her.
He said even after he had confronted the nurses on a Wednesday, 28 September, asking them to operate on Ndweni so that she doesn’t stay with a dead child in her tummy, they showed that they didn’t care.
He claimed that his girlfriend stayed four days without getting help and when they finally operated on her on Friday morning, the child’s body was decomposed. Moutlanyana said he had been asking nurses from that Wednesday to operate on his girlfriend so that she could go home and mourn their baby, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
but that went to deaf ears and on Friday he had no choice but to fight everyone in the ward and that’s when she was taken for operation, said Moutlanyane. Ndweni’s aunt Bella Mathule (43) said before Ndweni was discharged, a nurse told the doctor that Ndweni needed to be given blood because she was weak.
She claimed that the doctor refused, saying Ndweni is a yellow bone and she doesn’t need blood. She further claimed that the nurse had an argument with the doctor and promised to report him. The aunt said Ndweni was told to come back to the hospital if she felt dizzy while at home.
Apparently, Ndweni has been feeling dizzy since being discharged and the family said they will try to take her back to the hospital. Sebokeng Hospital’s spokeswoman Lerata Sedulawesi said the patient was admitted to the hospital on 26 September for induced labor.
The induction of labor is the process of stimulating the womb to start labor. And the process takes two to three days to induce labor, it takes longer if it happens before full term or with the first baby, and all maternity admissions are directed to the department as they do not go via accident and emergency. “Upon arrival, patients are assessed by clinicians and if there is a need for cesarean section, a booking is made as per theatre slate,” she said.
Sedulawesi said that not all patients who are booked for delivery would go for a caesarean section.
She said the doctor in charge explained to the family all the medical complications involved in this case, and what led to the death of the baby.
She added that the mother was kept in hospital for medical reasons.
She said that the patient signed a refusal of further treatment on 5 October.
Sedulawesi added that where shortfalls exist in their healthcare system, they have a quality assurance unit where they receive patients’ complaints and ensure that these are attended to.
She said the family can direct their complaint to all the Department of Health channels,
