Confusion over where the dead infant was born in Middelburg Hospital

A devastated dad alleged to have been sold a cheap dummy by the Middelburg Provincial Hospital when his pregnant wife went to deliver the baby while the hospital denied the baby was born on their premises.

Thulane Madalane (41) said the hospital kept mum about the death of the baby after wife, Mmatau Mohlala (36), had given birth at the maternal ward in the early hours of Monday morning, March 8. He said the manner in which he discovered about the death, sent shivers down the spine.

“I spotted a piece of paper that covered the lifeless body of the foetus dumped on the floor. Then I realised that was our baby lying on the floor,” said a fuming Madalane. “That got me confused because no one had said anything to me, but as I looked on the floor I, inquisitively, had to enquire what was happening,” he said.

“I asked myself why would the nurse put the baby on the floor and why she did not care to explain to me that we have lost the baby.” Madalane further alleged that her wife, who was overwhelmed by post-natal pains, was neglected. “I went home to fetch her some stuff and when I came back I realised she was still sitting in a pool of blood. It was about 6 am,” he claimed.

He also said that they still could not receive the help even after he had taken up the matter with the hospital boss. “I then approached the CEO and explained that we are experiencing a bad treatment. I told him ‘we arrived at the hospital around 4 am but it’s two hours late, we still have not received help. The child is still lying on the floor,” he said.

He further said that the nurses wanted to have the foetus cremated against their will. “The nursing staff in that department were actually forcing that the child be cremated without, first, getting approval from us,” he said.

The Mpumalanga department of health maintained the baby was not born at the hospital. “She had delivered the foetus at home not in the hospital,” said the department’s media liaison officer, Christopher Nobela.

The patient was not neglected, arrived in the hospital at 04:55 and was seen by the midwife and the doctor in casualty,” he said. “The placenta was delivered in the hospital by the midwife and the doctor. The perineum was intact with no tears. The patient was informed about the procedure of incineration, and that her placenta is complete and she indicated that she is waiting for the husband so that she can inform him,” Nobela said.