WeeklySA_AdminINSENSITIVE:Forced to deliver in front of locked gates while nurses sleep soundly inside
By Frank Maponya
Heads are expected to roll after two pregnant women gave birth at the gate of a rural Limpopo clinic while nurses were asleep inside the facility. The nurses had allegedly refused to help the women who were in serious labour pains.
Nurses at the Madimbo Clinic, outside Musina, have allegedly been making it a habit of sleeping at night, thereby depriving patients access to urgent medical care.
The clinic is supposed to operate on a 24-hour basis, with nurses on standby inside to assist patients needed emergency medical attention at the facility at night. But the nurses are alleged to have refused to wake up when patients called at the clinic for help.
The two women gave birth outside the clinic’s locked gates in two separate incidents which took place in the space of a week.
The first incident happened on Thursday last week when a woman had reportedly arrived at the clinic in the early hours of the morning, complaining of labour pains. But security guards at the clinic allegedly denied the heavily pregnant woman entry, resulting in her delivering a baby outside the gate while waiting for the clinic to open at 7am. The mother and the baby were taken to a nearby hospital and are both doing well.
The second incident happened on Tuesday when a female patient allegedly arrived at the clinic after being referred from the Tshiungani Clinic. She, too, had to wait outside from 5am for the clinic to open at 7am before getting medical attention. And, when the clinic eventually opened, the woman was found to be in a serious condition. Emergency Medical Services personnel were called in and the woman was taken to the Donald Fraser Hospital, some 90 kilometres away, where she later passed away.
These incidents have triggered an investigation by the department, which has also promised that heads would roll. Departmental spokesperson Neil Shikwambana said they had sent a team to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding both incidents so that they can act accordingly.
“We are worried that the Madimbo Clinic has been hogging headlines for all the wrong reasons and we are going to do everything in our power to act against anyone found to be on the wrong,” said Shikwambana.
“We do not condone incidents where nurses would neglect their duties and fail to assist patients,” he said.
The Limpopo department of health is already in a precarious financial position and has over R9 billion in medico-legal claims against it.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance in Limpopo has laid criminal charges against the nurses. Risham Maharaj, the party’s spokesperson for health, has opened charges of criminal negligence at the Musina Police Station.
“The DA believes that good quality healthcare in rural areas needs to be prioritised to ensure rural communities of their dignity and access to healthcare,” said Maharaj.
