Marina maternity horror
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday January 27, 2017 18:00
An eyewitness, a patient at the referral hospital, shared the horrifying incident with Mmegi of a woman who 'needlessly' lost her life in the maternity ward, Monday morning.
According to the traumatised young woman who cannot be named for fear of victimisation, the deceased had given birth through cesarean section two days earlier.
“On Sunday, the poor woman said she was not feeling well. She spent the whole day in bed. I suspect that she could not get off the bed because she had heavy clots. On Monday, she called the nurse asking for some water, but the nurse who was on duty that morning literally ignored her,” she said.
“When she tried to seek assistance from the other nurse, her efforts were futile as she was casually told to drink water and some juice drinks. Later came in some male doctors, who included interns. One of those doctors asked the poor woman if she had tried to get off the bed. She told him that she could not because she was feeling dizzy, but he suggested she try to exercise as it could do her a lot of good. They removed her urinary drainage bag. When the doctor was still consulting other patients, the woman called him and told him that she wanted to use the bathroom. She said she needed assistance to go to the bathroom,” she said. She said the doctor asked a certain female nurse to assist the woman and escort her to the bathroom. In response, the seemingly angry nurse told the doctor that it was not in her job description to escort patients to the bathroom. The nurse grudgingly assisted the patient, but as she tried helping her stand, a huge clot of blood fell from her and she fainted.
“The doctor and nurse's efforts to save that woman failed despite putting her on oxygen and drip because a few minutes later, she was pronounced be dead. I will never forget that experience. It was a horrifying scene. I have never seen anyone one die before me in my entire life. I don’t think I would like to come back to this hospital again after this incident. I can barely sleep at night as that scene still haunts me. It keeps playing in my head over and over again,” she said with tears flowing freely from her eyes.
The issue hit the social media scene, forcing the hospital to awaken from slumber.
The hospital’s chief communications and public relations officer, Donnell Kutlapye on Tuesday, released a press statement announcing that the hospital was investigating the allegations.
“The hospital management takes these allegations very seriously and has instituted investigations into the matter. We would like to thank members of the community who continue to share with us incidents that happen within the hospital of which management is not aware. We take issues posted on various communication media seriously. We act when we see such and have assisted a lot of individuals who needed our help,” he stated. He said the PMH management contacted the individual who posted the matter on Facebook and is assisting them with investigations. Kutlapye assured the public that once investigations were completed, due process would be followed.
“We would notify our stakeholders, that is, the Botswana Health Professions Council and Nursing, Midwifery Council of Botswana as well as Ministry of Health and Wellness,” he noted.
He would not, however, divulge names of the deceased saying it would be a breach of confidentiality with patients. “We highly regret the above incident that is said to have happened over the weekend. We also re-assure members of public that PMH subscribes to Millennium Development Goals Four and Five that focus on reduction of child mortality and improving maternal health irrespectively.”
In an interview with Mmegi, Kutlapye, while not sharing anything further on the investigations, pointed out that people go to Marina with different complications on daily basis. He said as people die due to different factors on a daily basis, he could not link any of the deaths that occur at the hospital with the alleged incident.
“Some of the patients who lose their lives are those who die upon their arrival from other hospitals when referred to PMH. We are currently taking statements from our patients and employees who were on duty that day. We will inform the public about our findings after investigations are complete,” he said.