Clinic's lunch break caused my baby's death'

MATSANJENI – A nine-month-old baby died in her mother arms on Friday afternoon whilst queuing at a local health centre.

The mother, Jabu Ngcamphalala alleged that she was not attended to at Matsanjeni Health Centre because the nurses were on a lunch break. Speaking from her mourning hut, Ngcamphalala said she arrived at the centre at about 1:15pm, and was allegedly told that nurses would only attend to them after 2pm.

“When we were eventually allowed inside, the nurses asked what was wrong with the child. I told them that she was vomiting and had diarrhoea. They then told me to wait in the queue because the doctor was still busy.

“By the time we were allowed to see the doctor, my child had passed away. In fact, the discovery was made by the doctor,” she said in between sobs.
In her presence, Ngcamphalala alleged that the doctor asked the nurse why she did not alert him about the child’s condition.
Mourners who were found at the homestead, situated at Esikhaleni Sabhodwe, alleged that the nurses at the health centre were engaged on a go-slow strike over unpaid overtime allowances.

However, this was vehemently denied by the health centre’s Sister-in-charge Precious Ndlangamandla and the Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA) Secretary General Sibusiso Lushaba in separate interviews.
Explaining about the unfortunate death of Lindelwa Dlamini, Ndlangamandla said the allegations that Ngcamphalala was not attended to because it was lunch time were unfounded because the centre had what she termed a quick-win programme in place.

She said the programme was introduced at the centre in February in a bid to avoid similar incidents.
“Each and every department should have someone on standby to assist people during such times like the lunch break. Our policy is that people should be attended to at all times,” the sister-in-charge said.

In Ngcamphalala’s case, Ndlangamandla said nurses played their role by administering what was needed in preparing the child before consulting with the doctor.
“Yes it true that she was not given priority because there were other equally critical patients who were consulting with the doctor at that time,” she said.

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