Women not able to have their caesareans

● A 16-day wait for one expectant mom over Dora Nginza nurses’ go-slow

A pregnant woman, whose baby was meant to be delivered 16 days ago via a caesarean, has told of her fear and anxiety of possibly losing the baby as nurses in Dora Nginza’s maternity wards entered their fifth day of a go-slow.

Each day, the woman and several other expectant women wonder when their babies will finally be delivered.

And as if that was not enough of a problem, the patients have also not been receiving food since a kitchen worker tested positive for Covid-19.

They have to rely on their families to bring them food, but it must be collected at the gate more than 100m away from the hospital entrance.

A reporter spoke to three pregnant women at the beleaguered institution.

The woman who has been waiting for her C-section for 16 days said the situation was worsening.

“I have been here for [16] days and I am still waiting,” she said.

“The doctors and nurses do report for work but they do not actually work.

“The doctors have been promising to operate, but the strike then made things worse.

“Now they say there is nothing that they can do because they cannot work without nurses.”

Health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana conceded that the department had a backlog of C-sections waiting to be done, but would not say how many.

“During Covid-19 we’re doing only emergencies,” he said.

Pressed on how many were waiting for the operation, Manana said that “such information cannot be released by the institution”.

The pregnant woman said the wait had been unbearable, and the ongoing go-slow diminished her hopes of going home.

“The nurses have been protesting since Monday and we have not even got food between these days since they started.

“We are forced to go and buy food or meet our family members at the gate for food,” she said.

“I can’t even go home now because my due date has long passed and all of us who are here are in need of the operation.

“All 34 of us in my room are scared ... especially since there has been a death of a baby on Sunday and only one nurse was on the night shift,” she said.

Manana would not comment on the claim that a baby had died.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the patients are not allowed visitors and often have to walk outside the premises to collect food from family members — which they say could put more patients at risk.

“On Monday, I had to walk all the way to the gate to get food from my family and some ladies are being forced to beg from others as their families are not based in Port Elizabeth,” the woman said.

“Another lady that is expecting twins — one of the babies is a breech baby while the other is fine — has been here for 15 days.”

Another woman, who has been waiting for a C-section since June 15, said she was not blaming the staff but rather the government’s planning.

“Because some of the hospitals [in the areas surrounding Nelson Mandela Bay] closed, all those patients came here and the staff here were already understaffed because of this coronavirus.”

By Friday last week, Dora Nginza had 41 staff members who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I came in last week Monday for a C-section operation, and I am still waiting to go into theatre,” the second woman said.

“Theatre has been closed for four days now already and they are only doing emergency operations ... there are patients lying here who have been here for more than 15 days waiting and we are high-risk patients.

“The doctors are doing their jobs, but it’s just that the [maternity ward and theatre] nurses are striking.

“I am not in pain or anything, but you know anything can change any minute because this is pregnancy,” she said. “We understand that they are tired but we are at risk and if something happens to our babies, who is going to take responsibility for it?”

A third mother-to-be, who was admitted on June 12 for a C-section on June 15, is also still waiting.

“Every time I get a chance to go to theatre, they operate on someone else.

“I have seen women from Motherwell, Uitenhage and Hankey get first preference here.

“I wish that the other hospitals open because we cannot rely on one nurse at a time,” she said.

“We are not even sure whether we will get meals because on Monday we got our porridge at 12 [midday].”

Manana would not respond to questions on what the health department had done to accommodate the influx of patients from other hospitals.

“Dora Nginza cannot comment on this,” he said, but then added: “The department is responding to matters of shortage of staff by appointing 100 health-care workers.”

They were not, however, nursing staff.

Manana said 40 had arrived on Wednesday and the remaining workers would arrive yesterday and today.

“The 100 people appointed are for Dora Nginza and will do mostly cleaning and the remainder portering, laundry and food services,” he said.