Pretoria - Two Limpopo law-enforcement officers went beyond the call of duty when they assisted a young mother to deliver a bouncing baby girl at a police station boardroom in Roedtan outside Modimolle.
Sergeant Nkang Mogoru and Constable Solomon Mnisi were on duty on May 30 when a heavily pregnant woman walked into a community service centre complaining of labour pains. They escorted her to the boardroom of the police station. The duo collaborated to assist Courage Sithole, 23, who had tried to visit the clinic across the station, but found it closed because it was a Sunday. This meant the police station was her last resort.
Mogoru, 41, who has a nursing certificate, spoke to the Pretoria News yesterday. “I was attending a common robbery case not too far from the police station when Constable Mnisi called me to come to help with a pregnant woman who had walked into the station,” she said. “We first tried to get an ambulance but realised it was 47km away. I had no choice but to deliver the baby and save the mother’s life by removing the placenta – that could have caused her to die.
"She could not walk on her own, so I took her into the boardroom where I laid down the blanket and asked my colleague (Mnisi) to assist me after getting my medical kit.
“We delivered a healthy baby girl and I cut the umbilical cord and removed the placenta from the mother before sending her to Naboom Health Care Centre for observation."
Mogoru, who joined the SAPS 17 years ago. “After obtaining my nursing and paramedic certificate, I struggled to find a job for five years until I was finally admitted to the SAPS,” she said.
This is not the first time Mogoru has gone beyond her call of duty. In 2009 she helped a new mother who had given birth by cutting the umbilical cord and removing the placenta, and in 2012 she assisted another mother in giving birth while on duty.
“I’m helping with the skills I received from the nursing college, even if I’m not practising nursing,” she said.
Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said: “Sergeant Mogoru indicated that she understands the risks involved in all these incidents, but that they are often faced with situations where they have to perform duties beyond the normal SAPS mandate in order to save lives… she used her own emergency kit and resources.”
Pretoria News