HOSPITAL SHOCK Gbagbo wants passport to return to Ivory Coast
…Seven Zimbabwe babies stillborn in one night at hospital
HARARE - Seven babies were stillborn at Harare Hospital in Zimbabwe on Monday night after urgent treatment was delayed because of staffing issues, two doctors have confirmed.
Nurses are on strike nationwide because of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other concerns, and the maternity wards were overwhelmed.
One doctor said Monday’s deaths were “the tip of the iceberg.” The health sector has recently been hit by a Covid-19 procurement scandal.
It is alleged that multi-million dollar contracts were awarded to buy supplies at inflated prices - and the health minister has been sacked over the allegations.
A leaked government response to senior doctors, who wrote to complain about conditions and to threaten strike action, acknowledged “challenges” in hospitals, an “increase in poor outcomes” and a serious shortage of medical supplies because of a lack of foreign currency, but urged medical staff “to reconsider your intention of withdrawing services.”
The deaths at Harare Hospital first were first published by Dr
Peter Magombeyi, who tweeted, “We have been robbed of our future, including our unborn babies. Please stop the looting.”
Two doctors with direct knowledge of the situation at Harare Hospital confirmed
to the BBC that on Monday night eight Caesarean section operations were performed. Seven of the babies were stillborn.
“There was very, very late intervention,” said one doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not have official permission to talk to the media.
“Two of the mothers had ruptured uteruses and needed early operations. The other operations were done because of obstructed labour, but were not done on time so the babies died, stuck in their mothers’ pelvises.”
The doctor described “dire” scenes at Harare’s two main state hospitals, with only a handful of nurses and doctors at work because of a strike.
“These are not isolated incidents. This is repeated every day and all we can do is watch them die. This is torture for the families, and for the junior doctors,” said a second doctor.
In a statement, Zimbabwe’s Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists described the situation in hospitals as “grave,” and “beyond dire.” -
BRUSSELS - Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo, freed conditionally by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has applied for a passport so that he can return home, his lawyer said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gbagbo is the first head of state to stand trial in The Hague.
He and his deputy Charles Ble Goude were cleared in early 2019 of crimes against humanity - eight years after the former Ivorian strongman’s arrest and transfer to the court.
Belgium agreed to host Gbagbo after he was released under strict conditions, including his return to court for a prosecution appeal against his acquittal. An ICC spokesperson has said Gbagbo can travel provided the destination agrees to receive him.
After multiple unsuccessful requests to the foreign minister in Abidjan for a diplomatic passport, Gbagbo had gone to the Ivory Coast embassy in Brussels to request an ordinary passport and clearance to visit, his lawyer, Habiba Toure, said.
After Gbagbo’s acquittal by The Hague court “it is high time for president Laurent Gbagbo to return home,” Toure argued.
The return of Gbagbo to Ivory Coast is a sensitive political issue three months before the presidential election. His party the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) is urging him to throw his hat in the electoral ring.
Gbagbo, 86, and Ble Goude were acquitted of four counts of crimes against humanity over the 2010- 2011 bloodshed following a disputed vote in Ivory Coast: murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts. They had always maintained their innocence.
Technically, Gbagbo could be jailed on his return, having been sentenced in absentia to a 20-year term last November for the “looting” of the local branch of the Central Bank of the West African States during the post-election crisis.
The 2020 presidential elections are already set to be tense, after years of political turbulence.