Chronicle Editor
Gibson Mhaka, Senior Reporter
IN a suspected case of gross negligence which reflects challenges faced by women with disabilities in accessing maternal healthcare services, a newborn baby died at Mpilo Central Hospital after falling into a toilet bowl. This was after nurses allegedly left the mother who is mentally challenged to give birth unattended.
The horrific incident happened on 30 December 2021 the woman (21) from Nkulumane 12 who was allegedly denied attentive care supposedly as a result of her mental disability went into labour and decided to use the toilet where her baby was later trapped in the bowl.
Her child who died as a result of alleged malpractice and medical negligence was cremated on Friday last week.
Narrating shocking circumstances of the incident to Chronicle, the woman’s brother Lindelwe Maduma (38) described the incident as “gross negligence”.
He said nurses (names supplied) who were on duty allegedly neglected his sister when she cried out for help after experiencing labour pains adding that it was unconscionable that any woman, particularly a mentally ill woman, would be abandoned to deliver alone.
“According to some expecting mothers who were with her, she started experiencing extreme labour pains at around 3 AM.
While writhing in pain she screamed for help, but no one came to assist her. At around 5 AM, when the pain became unbearable, she then got out of bed and went to the toilet. While she was there while trying to relieve herself that’s when the baby came out and it fell into the toilet bowl,” said Lindelwe, while struggling to hold back his tears.
He said while in the toilet she gave birth with no medical supervision or treatment as no one came to assist her.
“What should have been one of the happiest days of her life was instead a day of unnecessary pain. This is the kind of trauma that doesn’t go away,” he said.
According to new mortality estimates recently released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division, UNFPA and the World Bank Group, an estimated 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year, or 1 every 11 seconds, mostly because of preventable causes.
A devastated Lindelwe said his sister was neglected despite the fact that the nurses had given her drugs to induce and speed up labour.
He said delays by the hospital staff in attending to her resulted in the loss of what could have been his sister’s firstborn child.
“When I visited the hospital the following day that is when I realised that she was not there in the ward. When I asked the nurses about her whereabouts that is when they started looking for her.
“They later heard from some patients who were with her that she had visited the toilet and she had taken long to return. When they went to the toilet that is when they found her lying unconscious on the floor with the child’s lifeless body in the toilet bowl,” he said.
Hospital records in possession of Chronicle also confirmed that the woman gave birth unassisted.
The records read in part: “Took over management of a pt (patient) who was said to have delivered at 0500hrs unassisted of a fresh still birth at 0500hrs, sex girl wt (weight) 3200g.”
He said the incident happened since there was a delay in shifting the patient to the labour ward.
In addition to not receiving adequate medical care, Lindelwe said the hospital was allegedly refusing to punish the nurses who were on duty when his sister lost her child.
The family which “cannot forgive” the two nurses is now considering legal action against the hospital.
“I want justice for my sister and for her story to be told. I feel she was let down by the people that were supposed to assist her. It was a situation that could have been avoided. I hope this never happens to another woman in labour and that babies are protected.”
“As a family we will be taking all legal avenues available to us to seek not only redress but closure for what happened.”
He adds: “It is cruel to leave a woman particularly one who is mentally challenged howling in pain unassisted and forced to give birth in a toilet”.
He said his sister suffered a “terrifying, painful and traumatic experience” and described the incident as “deeply sad and distressing”.
In a recorded audio between Mpilo Hospital clinical director, Dr Francis Chiwora, and Lindelwe, the former is heard apologising to the Maduma family while admitting the hospital’s alleged negligence.
Mpilo Central Hospital chief executive officer, Professor Solwayo Ngwenya confirmed the incident saying the hospital has since launched an internal investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, investigations by Chronicle established that the trauma faced by the Maduma family is, however, not a one-off case.
Extreme lack of attention like this one is not unusual in most health facilities in the country. It is a systemic problem where some women are losing their babies during birth.
Findings also suggest that although women with disabilities do want to receive institutional maternal healthcare, their disability often makes it difficult for them to travel to access proper care, as well as gain access to unfriendly physical health infrastructure.
Other challenges include: healthcare providers’ insensitivity and lack of knowledge about the maternity care needs of women with disabilities, negative attitudes of service providers, the perception from able-bodied persons that women with disability should be asexual, and health information that lacks specificity in terms of addressing the special maternity care needs of women with disability.
In March 2020 two nurses at Bulawayo’s Mpilo Central Hospital were arrested for allegedly causing the death of a day-old girl after she fell from a maternal bed when they left her mother unattended to give birth.
The nurses allegedly ignored the patient when she told them she was experiencing labour pains until she gave birth and the baby crashed to the floor.
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