The maternity ward of Rob Ferreira Hospital is said to be a nightmare, allegedly overcrowded with heavily pregnant mothers and exhausted staff.
Recent leaks by a person who claimed to be one of the patients’ mothers, contained pictures of heavily pregnant women sleeping on mattresses with linen from their homes. A reliable source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed to Mpumalanga News that the leaked pictures were a true reflection of the ward.
“Working at the ward is stressful; there is no time to rest. Nurses are understaffed and have to work overtime. They don’t rest at all and are called, even if they are off duty, to come and help as more women come to give birth around this time,” said the source.
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Many nurses agree that the number of pregnant women coming to the hospital has risen since after the country’s lockdown. “One seemed to wonder if the local clinics still give advice to women on available contraceptives and other family planning methods,” said another source.
They also added that the inoperative laundry system at the hospital was the cause of problems associated with the alleged lack of linen in the wards. “The hospital buys enough linen, but this is either stolen or misplaced during the laundry process,” the source said.
“Laundry is washed anywhere, either in laundry services in town or even in other hospitals.”
Jane Sithole, the leader of the provincial DA, has written to the South African Human Rights Commission asking it to investigate inhumane conditions at the hospital’s maternity ward. “According to information and pictures gathered by the DA, the toilets of Rob Ferreira’s maternity ward are not working and patients must bring their own bedsheets and pillows. The DA wants to know why files are not kept at the maternity ward to avoid a situation where these pregnant women could give birth while on the way to casualties to open files,” she said in a media release.
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The provincial MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, conducted an unannounced oversight visit to the hospital on March 18. A subsequent media statement said she had discovered that the allegations levelled by the DA were not entirely true.
“The MEC discovered that linen is being provided in the hospital. She also discovered that on some days, the hospital gets overcrowded because some people bypass their primary healthcare (PHC) facilities where they live and come straight to Rob Ferreira without being referred. The hospital is, however, managing the situation.”
Manzini urged patients to consult with their local clinics first before they come to Rob Ferreira.
“All PHC facilities are able to assist pregnant women to deliver, especially those who are able to deliver normally,” she said. Rob Ferreira has 28 beds in the post-natal ward and 36 beds in the nursery. On average the hospital delivers babies of 26 patients per day of whom 70 per cent are referrals from PHC facilities.
Manzini also found that only five toilets of the total 12 at the ward were not working. This, she said, was caused by disposables being dropped in the toilets which blocked the system. She added that all the files in the maternity ward were kept at the registration desk of the maternity section. “It is not true that heavily pregnant women were made to walk long distances to collect their files,” she said.
