Pregnant woman's mysterious death at hospital

MBABANE—A family wants answers from the Ministry of Health after a pregnant woman who had gone to give birth at the Mbabane Government Hospital died mysteriously.

Zanele Mavuso-nee Dlamini died at the Mbabane Government Hospital on August 20, 2009 and was to be later found at the morgue still pregnant by her distraught family.
Health Minister Benedict Xaba was informed of the incident and he had allegedly promised to set up a comm-ission of inquiry into the matter which, however, was allegedly not set up.

What the family now wants, and they has since engaged the services of Attorney Sabelo Bhembe, is the report which they allege that the government is now failing to produce.
According to the deceased’s brother Fana, they allege and suspect that there was utter negligence on the part of the nurses who did not take care of Zanele when she arrived at the hospital.

The family alleges that the deceased was found dead on the floor of the currently under renovation maternity ward.
According to the family, Zanele—who was due to deliver—had taken herself to the hospital, but when they tried to call her on her cellphone, it rang unanswered for a long period of time and they decided to visit the hospital.
However, when they arrived at the maternity ward, everyone denied that the deceased had been admitted to the hospital.
After a long search, the deceased was eventually found at the hospital’s morgue with everyone claiming they did not know who had attended to her.
The family, which has connections at the hospital, was further told that there were no charts which showed that the patient was ever admitted.

However, the family alleges that after an insider went through the hospital records, the deceased’s chart was found with several entries in it.
It is alleged that the doctor on duty had reported that the nurses had indeed been negligent in handling the deceased and told the nurses in no uncertain terms that he or she would not be party to the case.
The deceased was found with a dented forehead which the family alleges that she fell flat on her face.
Currently, pregnant women at the hospital’s maternity ward are forced to sleep on the benches and floor due to the renovations.
The deceased’s husband, Charles Mavuso, who works in South Africa initiated the investigation of his wife’s death.

It is alleged that the nurses denied any knowledge of the patient and further claimed that cleaners had just found her dead at the hospital and took her to the mortuary. A post-mortem was conducted and the family alleges that the results of such were not satisfactory.
Bhembe (attorney) confirmed that he had since taken up the matter on behalf the Mavuso family.
Bhembe of Bhembe Attorneys based in Mbabane said they had first approached the Hospital Administrator Dr Makhosazane Dlamini to demand a report of the incident but she referred them to the Principal Secretary in the Health Ministry Dr Steven Shongwe.

“We wrote to the PS on Wednesday, but he was not in his office and we were advised by his secretary that he was away,” said Bhembe.
He said they further left a copy of the letter with the Ministry’s Legal Advisor.
Dr Shongwe (PS), who responded to an SMS sent to him by this publication, said he was out of the country and therefore unable to comment on the matter.

He said he would need the name of the patient and other particulars such as the date of admission, age and status of the pregnancy, any induced condition.
He said they would need to check with the hospital to find out what had really happened.
“I am aware of some complaints that we received but cannot recall the names of the patients and other details,” said Dr Shongwe.  
The Minister, Xaba, did not answer his phone throughout the day when contacted yesterday nor did he respond to an SMS sent to him.
Currently, only emergencies are attended to at the maternity ward due to the ongoing renovations which the minister when interviewed last week by this publication said they would soon be completed.    

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