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A SAKUBVA family has accused the Mutare Provincial Hospital personnel for negligently causing the death of an ailing mother who was allegedly stashed into the mortuary before she was confirmed dead.
The despairing and highly emotional Matondo family in interviews with The Manica Post on Monday afternoon said although the late Noma Matondo (55), who died on Sunday evening, was suffering from a heart problem, no professional doctor confirmed her death.
They were convinced that she was conveyed to the mortuary room while she was still alive.
“When the nurses told us that she was dead, we demanded to see her corpse, but they could not allow us. That was a few minutes after we had seen her talking well. We really wanted to confirm that she had died. What baffled us most was that the nurses who looked like amateurs and very inexperienced had earlier told us that there was no doctor available to attend to her. That was four hours before she was reported dead.
“She had been hospitalised in Female Ward B on Sunday morning and was put on oxygen. She had problems in breathing, but it was not as serious as the nurses purported it to be. She was never attended to. They said there was no doctor and we were worried about this conduct. She died at around 7.15pm and was immediately taken to the mortuary. If there was no doctor at the hospital, who then confirmed that she was dead?” said the visibly distraught Esther Matondo, the deceased’s niece.
She added that she caught a glimpse of Noma’s dead body in a tray.
“She was lying in a tray and was covered by a sheet, but one of her hands was behind her head. As far as I understand this, or maybe I am wrong, her hands were supposed to be straight and tied, while her eyes were supposed to have been closed. We saw none of that,” she added.
Esther, during the interview, was accompanied by Noma’s children who included Lillian and Jane Terai and Chamunorwa Mahara and neighbour Agnes Neshiri, among others.
They described Noma as a “fighter” and heroine who took care of several orphans in Mutare.
Mourners were gathered at House Number 17, Mazhambe, Sakubva, and burial arrangements were yet to be finalised by the time the paper went to bed.
The cause of death was also yet to be established as post-mortem results were not yet available.
Chamunorwa echoed what Esther said, saying the nurses paid little attention to Noma’s situation, who was in dire need of urgent help.
“Unfortunately, we cannot bring her back, but if urgent attention had been given to her, she should have survived. We strongly believe it was too early for her to die,” said the dejected Chamunorwa.
When contacted for comment, the Provincial Medical Director, Dr Patron Mafaune, said the alleged circumstances were very rare and it was likely that the family spoke in emotions.
“As relatives of the deceased, they should feel free to contact the Mutare Provincial Hospital public relations department and submit their complaints there. I, however, find it very rare and unlikely. I think they spoke in emotions as people who are mourning their loved one. I have never heard of such an incident in my whole career. In fact, there are a lot of things that nurses or doctors consider before confirming someone’s death, these include the eyes, when someone is dead the pupil will be fixed. A dead person won’t have a pulse as well and the heart would have stopped beating,” she said.
She added: “Sometimes it does not necessarily need a doctor to confirm that someone is dead. There are some district clinics where there won’t be doctors. Nurses are competent in doing that although we expect that in provincial and central hospitals there should be doctors to do certification of deaths.”
Online Reporter