Masisi Clinic staff assists woman to give birth to quadruplets
The undocumented foreign national woman had no history of antenatal care when she went into labour at a clinic that does not operate 24 hours.
LIMPOPO –Â The staff at Masisi Clinic near Musina was ready to go home after a long day of work yesterday (October 18) afternoon, before a patient in need arrived at their doorstep.
Masisi Clinic does not operate 24 hours, and a midwife was prepared to leave after her shift when she noted that a heavily pregnant patient entered the clinic.
She decided to find out how the patient could be helped, just to realise that she was in labour.
The patient was an undocumented foreign national who had no history of antenatal care and was in desperate need of medical assistance.
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The midwife and a team of nurses stayed behind and took the risk to help the woman give birth to four babies.
“To give birth to quadruplets is very risky. The birth would usually be done in a hospital under the supervision of a doctor, and not in a clinic but this brave midwife and her staff rose to the occassion. The mother and her bundles of joy were transferred to Donald Fraser Hospital soon after the birth,” Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba explained.
The quadruplets were weighed at birth, and the first baby weighed 2 080g, the second and the third both weighed 1 800g, and the fourth baby weighed a mere 1 200g.
The fourth baby has since been admitted in a nursery due to light weight with mild respiratory distress on nasal prongs, but the mother and her other babies are healthy and strong.
After the recent incident, Ramathuba once again urged all pregnant women to receive their needed antenatal care to avoid any surprises and easily preventable complications during the birth of their child(ren).
She congratulated the medical team who assisted the woman during her labour for their sterling performance.
“We are proud of their dedication, especially considering the complexity of the process they underwent in order to deliver these children. The fact that the nurses had knocked off but had to go back to be on duty to assist one pregnant woman also needs to be commended. Contrary to the popularised narration, our nurses aren’t all heartless,” Ramathuba said.
