FAMILY’S ANGUISH: ‘Did we bury the wrong baby?’

Grieving mothers are told two newborns who died on same day may have been ‘mixed up’

Two Eastern Cape mothers, already grieving over the loss of their newborn babies, face more trauma after being told a mix-up has led to one of them burying the wrong infant.

Pelisa Ngxale had a stillbirth at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital on November 8 and for more than two weeks her family has been looking for the remains of the baby girl.

On Monday, it emerged that the child’s remains may have been given to another woman, Ntombovuyo Tom, whose four-day-old daughter died in the hospital on the same day.

Coincidentally, both women are from Fort Beaufort and had been transferred to the hospital in Mdantsane after complications with the births.

Ngxale’s family said they had been sent from pillar to post in their quest for answers about the whereabouts of the baby.

Tom, 41, who has already buried the infant she believed was her child, will on Wednesday travel back to Cecilia Makiwane to identify another baby. If she identifies the body, there may have to be an exhumation of the child already buried. were finally assisted by the maternity matron, who called Cecilia Makiwane Hospital to receive confirmation that the body was transported to Fort Beaufort Hospital on November 10.”

The body was taken to a funeral parlour that same evening.

The Ngxale family did not receive a phone call.

But Tom’s husband was contacted to say his child’s remains had arrived.

Speaking to the Dispatch on Tuesday, Tom said her husband had positively identified the child at the parlour in Fort Beaufort.

After that the family proceeded with funeral arrangements.

“We buried our daughter on November 11.

“We were sure it was our child,” she said.

However, on Monday, both mothers said they had received phone calls from Fort Beaufort Hospital saying there might have been a mix-up with the babies.

Tom said: “I did not know how to react.

“I still do not know how to feel. I am so confused.

“I will be travelling to Cecilia Makiwane [on Wednesday] to confirm if the baby is really mine.”

Noma said her daughter