Pretoria - A Mamelodi family is demanding answers after their baby girl was born in the back seat of a car after they were turned away from the Stanza Bopape Primary Health Care Clinic.
According to Beauty Ndimande, the grandmother of the 11-day-old child, she took her daughter Busisiwe Ndimande to the clinic when she started experiencing contractions on January 24. She had been attending antenatal sessions at the City of Tshwane-owned facility.
Ndimande said on arrival at the clinic, they informed the nurses on call that her daughter was experiencing contractions and about to give birth as she was already at full term.
She said, however, within less than five minutes of attending to her, the nurses said her daughter was not in labour, and was simply experiencing pain due to an infection.
Ndimande said they gave the pregnant woman medication and antibiotics and informed the family to proceed to their nearest hospital should the pains persisted.
“All they did was to measure her stomach and administer a urine test … and they were done. It’s like they did not want to know or even assist us properly.”
The family said they returned home, but were forced to try to make their way to the nearest hospital which was less than five minutes away as the daughter’s pains persisted.
Ndimande said they had to pull over as the baby was crowning.
“They did not treat us right. I am not happy as a parent having to witness that happening to my child. A car is not a safe or hygienic place for a baby to be born. I could have lost a grandchild and a daughter in one night because of those nurses.
“The painful thing is, when we insisted at the clinic that she was giving birth, they kept arguing with us, stating that we had in fact given her something which was causing her pains.”
The family reached the Mamelodi Hospital, where all measures were taken to ensure the baby was well.
Another family member, Junior Modika, said when they returned to inform the nurses of what had happened within two hours after leaving the clinic, they were simply told that perhaps it was God who ensured a quick delivery.
Modika said when the family requested the name of the sister who had checked Ndimande on the night, the nurses refused to reveal it, and said they would rather give them the names of everyone on duty.
“The way these people treated us was not right or fair. We shouldn’t be treated so poorly or have our lives put at risk when we approach clinics; we need the Department of Health to look into how these places are managed and run, especially at night.”
Modika said they had contacted the head of the clinic, but they were yet to receive any response.
The Pretoria News gave the City of Tshwane two days to comment on the matter, but it had yet to do so by late yesterday.
DA health spokesperson in the province Jack Bloom said the ordeal the family had gone through was unnecessary and spoke to the need for quality assurance at clinics.
Bloom said the family were right to demand answers as the nurses on duty should have properly checked the patient to avoid them having to witness such an ordeal.
“Stanza Bopape is a fairly large clinic and referrals should have been done only in instances where it was a complicated birth, which clearly it wasn’t. So the family have every right to ensure that this matter is addressed.”
Pretoria News