WATCH: Nurse tells woman giving birth outside clinic to be quiet

The Limpopo Department of Health is currently investigating an incident where a woman was forced to deliver her baby outside the Burgersfort Clinic on Wednesday morning.

A video doing the rounds on social media showed women holding blankets and throws in an attempt to conceal the mother and child, to protect them from onlookers, Review Online reported.

The reason for the woman birthing her child outside the clinic was because it only opened at 7am.

A nurse in the video slowly putting on gloves and can be heard telling the group of women not to “make noise”.

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When the group plead with her to assist because it was an emergency, the nurse refuses, saying it was not an emergency. The woman gives birth shortly afterwards.

Departmental spokesperson Neil Shikwambana told Review Online the Burgersfort Clinic was no longer a 24-hour clinic, and only operated during the day.

“The clinic stopped operating for 24-hours two years ago because of threats to nurses who worked night shifts,” Shikwambana said.

“While the department is working with the community and the police to solve issues such as crime, the community is advised to utilise nearby clinics for night emergencies.”

He also told the publication the woman delivered her baby 15 minutes after arriving at the clinic’s gates. He said pregnant women should visit healthcare facilities before they are about to deliver a baby.

“It takes between eight to 16 hours for a woman to deliver a child from the onset of labour pains, depending on the number of children a woman has already delivered. We encourage pregnant women to visit health facilities for antenatal consultations during pregnancy as it is during these sessions that they are made aware of facilities they can deliver at in line with the department’s maternal health standards,” he said.

Shikwambana said the department’s employees were encouraged at all times to ensure that women deliver babies in an environment that is not only safe but dignified.

“The department has a constitutional and service obligation to enforce these protocols, and will act decisively with any of its employees who are found to have impeded it to fulfil this obligation.”

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Edited by Nica Richards.

This article first appeared on Caxton publication Review Online’s website. Read the original article here.