By: Thabo Molelekwa
Lebohang Manyaka recently gave birth to a baby boy at Germiston’s Bertha Gxowa Hospital.
Almost two weeks later, Manyaka still had not seen her child and no one at the hospital could give her a clear answer about where her baby was until she was called to collect his body.
Manyaka said she gave birth to a baby boy via Cesarean Section at the hospital on January 31.
The next morning, when Manyaka asked to see her child, she claimed a doctor told her the child had been transferred to Natalspruit Hospital.
Manyaka said that a subsequent doctor told her that the child had died, but she claimed that her patient file said that the child was to be discharged at 7pm on February 1.
“I gave birth to a baby boy which I haven’t seen up to date,” said Manyaka about two weeks after the birth.
“The hospital does not want to tell me the truth about the whereabouts of my child.
“All I want is my child, it does not matter if he is alive or dead, but as a family we want him.”
Just days later and after Health-e News began looking into the case, Manyaka received a call from Bertha Gxowa Hospital to come and collect her child.
When she and her husband, Karabo Rachidi arrived, they said a health worker asked if they were there to see the child.
Instead of being ushered into a ward, the couple were escorted to the mortuary to claim the baby boy’s body, Manyaka said.
Manyaka added that they were asked for DNA samples to confirm that the child was hers.
Within hours, she was given results confirming the child’s identity but said she remains suspicious of the test results.
The family is now demanding to know how this could happen and has threatened legal action against the Department of Health.
“We want to take the hospital to court,” said Rachidi.
“We want to know why they were hiding my child in the first place.”
Manyaka has vowed to seek justice for her dead child.
“We will not rest until we find out the truth from the hospital about what they actually did to my child,” she said.
According to the Bertha Gxowa Hospital’s quality assurance manager, Octavia Mngadi, the matter has been escalated to the hospital’s CEO.
Gauteng Department of Health head of communications Prince Hamnca has confirmed that the department has opened up an investigation into the case.
“The Gauteng Department of Health has instituted an investigation into the matter and sent a team from the quality assurance unit to Bertha Gxowa Hospital to investigate the allegations,” he said.
“Depending on the outcome of the investigations, if necessary, disciplinary processes will be followed.” – Health-e News.
