Woman in labour ‘barred by hospital’

Cape Town - 120515 - Noluvuyo Kobocwana (doesn't want her face shown), 29, was forced to give birth outside the new Khayelitsha Hospital after staff wouldn't assist her as they said she was supposed to go to Tygerberg Hospital. Pictured is Noluvuyo holding her new baby, Sibusise Kobocwana, as Nokhawuntana Kobocwana (the baby's grandmother, Noluvuyo's mother), looks on. Reporter: Neo Maditla Photographer: David Ritchie

Cape Town - 120515 - Noluvuyo Kobocwana (doesn't want her face shown), 29, was forced to give birth outside the new Khayelitsha Hospital after staff wouldn't assist her as they said she was supposed to go to Tygerberg Hospital. Pictured is Noluvuyo holding her new baby, Sibusise Kobocwana, as Nokhawuntana Kobocwana (the baby's grandmother, Noluvuyo's mother), looks on. Reporter: Neo Maditla Photographer: David Ritchie

Published May 16, 2012

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A Khayelitsha woman had to give birth a few metres from the entrance to the hospital where staff had earlier refused to admit her because she had not previously been going there for treatment.

On Monday night, Noluvuyo Kobocwana, 29, was at home in Harare with her mother, Nokhawuntana, when contractions began. She asked neighbour Mava Nowala to drive them to the local hospital.

Kobocwana said she had her pre-natal check-ups at Tygerberg Hospital but because the new Michael Mapongwana Hospital was around the corner they decided to go there.

She said staff there refused to admit her. “They said they can’t help me because I’m a Tygerberg patient. They said I must go there.”

Her mother said: “The baby was already on the way… Before I knew it, the baby came out and fell on to the cement (floor)… I picked him up and wrapped him with a towel,” she said.

A nurse snipped off the umbilical cord and took them into the hospital.

Kobocwana said: “I named him Sibusise because it’s a blessing how he came into the world.”

Faiza Steyn, spokeswoman for the provincial health department, had not responded to a request for comment by the time of going to press.

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