Alex Clinic relents
ALEXANDRA - Alex Clinic CEO Labane Maluleke has admitted that a pregnant woman was seen and checked at the clinic and was later referred to Edenvale General Hospital.
Alex Clinic CEO Labane Maluleke said a pregnant woman was seen and checked at the clinic and was later referred to Edenvale General Hospital after being refused entry into the clinic and giving birth on a street.
Maluleke was responding to questions from Alex News regarding 37-year-old Malawian Aseuc Aleja, who gave birth to baby girl Nonhlanhla Assne Afiurtu, after claiming she was allegedly chased away from the clinic, only to give birth in the street soon after 4:30pm.
According to their records, Maluleke said the woman arrived at the clinic complaining about lower abdominal pain and diarrhoea. She was seen and checked at 1;50pm and found not to be fully dilated, in other words not ready to give birth, and due to a shortage of ambulances, she was asked if she had her own transport and relatives accompanying her.
Related article: VIDEO: Woman allegedly chased away from Alex Clinic and gives birth in the street
When she admitted to having transport and relatives accompanying her, the clinic then referred her to the hospital, as “we don’t have the facilities to attend to complications such as the C-section and bridge babies”.
“Three hours later, the clinic received a call about a woman giving birth on the street and we immediately dispatched an ambulance to pick her up and brought her to the clinic, where she was admitted for overnight observations and was discharged the following morning,” Maluleke said.
As a precautionary measure, Maluleke said maybe the clinic should have kept her for an hour or so of observation before releasing her and asking to go to Edenvale Hospital. “What is worrying though is that she was seen by nurses at 1:50pm and immediately referred to Edenvale, but three hours later, we were called to say there was a woman giving birth on the street.
“We would like to know what she was still doing in the street for three hours. My suspicions are that she must have gone home and when she realised it was getting worse, decided to find public transport to take her to the hospital,” Maluleke said. Aleja resides in Marlboro with her husband, Afiurtu Aleja.
