Mom wants justice for son
THE mother of onemonth-old Kuyakhanya Mpanza, part of whose arm was amputated following an infection, has accused the Stanger Hospital staff of negligence and wants justice for her son.
Phindile Mpanza, from Shakas Head, north of Durban, believes her baby would not have lost his arm if the nurses had listened to her when she told them something was wrong with her newborn.
“They put him on a drip a couple of days after he was born and said it would help with his blood sugar levels, which they said were low. But about three days later his arm started swelling.
I asked what was going on and I was told, “not to worry,” said the mother-of-three.
What was meant to be a joyous time turned into a nightmare when Mpanza went to check on her week-old baby on February 12 and found that his fingers had turned purple. She said he was crying uncontrollably and the nurses kept telling her to wait for the doctor.
“The following day his right arm felt ice-cold and lifeless, but the rest of his body was on fire, he was sweating like he had a fever. I held his arm to my body and tried to warm it up, but nothing happened.”
Mpanza said she held her crying baby from about 5am until noon and felt herself tearing up numerous times because she knew he was in deep pain but there was nothing she could do. The doctor on duty in the morning tried to feel for a pulse on the right arm but there was none.
“He called other doctors but they also couldn’t feel it. Around midday they gave him some Panado syrup and he finally stopped crying and slept for a bit but by this time his entire hand had turned purple.
The evening doctor came and checked on him then said there was nothing he could do and transferred us to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital where we would get help.”
With hope that her son would get the help he needed, the pair travelled to the Durban hospital just after midnight, but after numerous treatments including a blood transfusion on February 16, Mpanza was told that the baby would lose part of his arm.
“It was a matter of life and death because the infection was spreading and he was in constant pain so I agreed to the amputation because I didn’t want to lose my son,” she explained.
After an hour in surgery she said he looked peaceful as he slept in his cot and that’s when she stopped crying.
They left Inkosi Albert Luthuli on February 20 and spent two nights at Stanger Hospital despite her protests.
“I didn’t want to go back there because of what they did to my baby. I’m supposed to go there three times a week so that they can check that he is healing well, as well as dressing his wound, but I’ve opted to rather buy the bandages myself”. She said the hospital management had apologised for what happened but had not explained what happened or what they planned to do to those who were responsible.
“They told me not to speak to the media or lawyers about what happened but my child nearly died at the hands of the people I trusted.
“Kuyakhanya will never be like other kids because of their actions. “He will grow up being teased. I don’t even know how he is going to crawl with one arm,” she said, and wept. Kukhanya’s maternal grandmother, Cynthia Mpanza, said she was also worried about how the amputation would affect his self-esteem.
“We will try to assure him that he can be anything he wants to be, and his disability should not stand in the way of his dreams, but we need to know what happened at the hospital so that we can tell him the whole truth when he starts asking questions,” she said.
Spokesperson for the KZN Department of Health Sam Mkhwanazi said the department was unable to comment as the law did not permit it to discuss confidential clinical information or the management of any patient with a third party.
“We can, however, confirm that hospital management met with the parents of one of its patients on March 2, 2017 to discuss issues related to the care and management of a patient.
“The department would like to appeal to health care users to follow the department’s compliments and complaints mechanism by approaching the management of health facilities where they received health care services; or the office of the health ombudsperson to register any query or grievance that they may have,” said Mkhwanazi.
The details of the provincial Health Ombudsperson are:
033 395 2111 or emailmboneni.bhekiswayo@ kznhealth.gov.za
ethekwini deputy mayor Fawzia Peer (front centre) honoured the police task team who dedicated their time in a joint operation to search for a kidnapped baby last week.