Horror stories at Nquthu Clinic

COMPLAINTS of negligence at the Nquthu Clinic have been brought forward after two babies are said to have died during labour since May this year.
According to reports, both deaths were due to the lack of attentiveness from staff members at Charles Johnson Memorial Clinic.
In June this year two women were faced with life-threatening conditions after facing the same negligence issues.
One woman had to be transported to Newcastle Provincial Hospital after she almost bled to death post giving birth.
Another, Sindiswa Mtshali (18) from the Nyezi area in Nquthu said that she never got to hold her baby who passed away when she was in labour at this clinic.
“We gave birth to our children without the help of the nurses at the labour ward at the clinic as they were all ignoring our cries for help,” she told her story.
“There were two of us in the ward and we were alone when we went into labour, we started to panic and tried to shout for help. We got up and walked to the door trying to get their attention but were told to be quiet and stop making such a racket,’ a sad Sindiswa continued.
“I gave birth to the baby while standing and unfortunately, as there was no one there to help, the child fell to its death headfirst,” she concluded.
Sindiswa said that this was a wound that would never heal.
Another woman by the name of Nqobile Hadebe (21) from the Sandlwana area of Nquthu fell victim to an almost similar case.
Nqobile gave birth to her child on June 10 and was told that the baby had no umbilical cord.
“When I delivered the baby, they took him and cut the umbilical cord. I think that they cut the umbilical cord too close though as I saw my child’s intestines start to come out and was terrified,” said Nqobile.
“I started panicking and demanded to know what was going on,” Nqobile went on.
The nurses are said to have told her that it would all be okay and that she should just relax.
Nqobile said that she gave birth through a C-section as per the doctor’s instructions after it was found that the child’s heart was beating too slowly.
After the umbilical cord mishap, nothing more was said to this young mother except that the child needed to be transferred to the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban immediately.
Nqobile said that the nurses had planned to ship the child off to Durban without her consent as it was the driver of the Ambulance the child was to be transported in who asked where the mother was and whether she had been notified about the arrangement.
“Had it not been for him, my baby Awande would have been taken to Albert Luthuli Hospital without my knowledge,” Nqobile said.
The 2-month old baby has since been transferred to Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg where he continues to fight for his life.
According to Nqobile’s grandmother Bangeni Mazibuko, the nurses have since denied having made any mistakes and even went on to tell them that the child had been born without an umbilical cord.
“I do not understand how they can say that the child was born without an umbilical cord as this is what connects the unborn child to the mother. How else would the child receive nourishment?” said an angry Bangeni.
“They are only doing this to us because we have no educational background,” she went on angrily.
The family said that they were not consulted regarding any of the operations that took place in Durban such as skin being cut from the child’s thighs to cover the area where the umbilical cord was meant to be.
The child’s grandmother went on to say that she then tried to get hold of the clinic for answers and was told by the head office that a meeting would be called with the responsible nurses but to this day they are still waiting.
The Nquthu hospital has been contacted and the Vryheid Herald is still awaiting their comment.