Child Dies At Clinic Gate After 11-hour Wait
A one-year-six-month-old child from Silobini Village died at the gate of Mhlahlandlela Clinic in Matobo, Matabeleland South Province where her parents had waited for about 11 hours begging a security guard and a nurse on duty to assist them.
They, however, failed to get any assistance after the guard and the nurse refused them treatment and admission saying they did not attend to anyone on weekends.
The incident happened two weeks ago.
The child’s father Misheck Maphosa believes his child wouldn’t have died if she had received medical care promptly. He said:
There is absolutely nothing dignified about watching your child die. No parent should ever have to go through what we have been through.
It was on a Saturday morning and at around 8 am when my wife took our child who had respiratory problems to Mhlahlandlela Clinic for medical attention.
When she got there the security guard then informed her that the clinic does not open on weekends.
My wife then indicated that the banner stated that they attended to emergency cases around the clock but the guard declined and argued that they did not attend to anyone on weekends.
Maphosa’s wife returned home for lunch around 1 PM and later, Maphosa accompanied his wife back to the clinic to find out why the child had not been attended to. He said:
When we got there after lunch, we found the nurse on duty at the clinic but she did not attend to us.
She also refused us entry into the clinic. We tried begging her together with the security guard but they refused to allow us inside.
At around 7 PM, I sought the help of a police officer who then talked to the nurse and the clinic was opened at 8 pm. The child died immediately after entering the clinic.
He said his daughter died at the gate exactly at 8.05 PM.
Silobini Village head Mannford Ndiweni confirmed the incident saying the community is not happy with the nurse in question and community members have since submitted their complaints to her superiors. Said Ndiweni:
What happened is true and it’s pretty disturbing. We have received a lot of complaints about the nurse from community members and the loss of this child shows that this nurse is not performing her duties of saving the lives of people properly.
We have since set out our findings in detail, along with the recommendations we have made in order to ensure that the lessons of this tragic case which we forwarded to the relevant authorities should never happen again at the clinic.
We are currently waiting for their response because this case needs to be decisively dealt with.
Matabeleland South provincial medical director (PMD) Dr Rudo Chikodzore said she had not received any report of the event. | B-Metro
