Cape Town – A Hout Bay woman has been walking around with a dead foetus in her womb after she was turned away from Groote Schuur Hospital because there were not enough beds available for her to deliver it.
Busisiwe Ndabangaye, a mother of three, said she went for a check-up on Monday and was told that the foetus’s heart was not beating and she should return on Tuesday.
“After I was sent home with a dead baby inside me I came back on Tuesday and I was given a bed but later that day a doctor came and told me there are not enough beds so I must go home and comeback on Saturday,” she said on Thursday.
She's been waiting at home to be induced on Saturday.
Ndabangaye said she has been taking pain killers for lower abdominal pains.
“It is very stressful for me that I had to go go home with a dead baby inside me. I’m scared – what if it affects me physically?”
She said she is not happy with the treatment she got from the hospital and if anything would happen to her she would open a case with the police against the hospital.
Provincial Health spokesperson Darren Francis said Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) has extended its sincere apologies and condolences to Ndabangaye and her family.
He said the management at the hospital have made it a priority to follow-up on the concerns raised directly with Ndabangaye.
“GSH strives to render quality service and have a patient-centred approach to all of its patients. Unfortunately at GSH, despite having strict bed management processes in place, daily bed pressures are a reality due to the increasing burden of disease as well as a variety of other related issues.
"In principle we thrive towards termination of pregnancy as soon as possible. We will always try to complete the induction of labour within five to seven days, preferably same day of the diagnosis but this is often not logistically possible as there are other factors such as an available bed for the patient,” said Francis.