Woman dies at childbirth, family wants answers
SITEKI – The death of a 29-year-old woman while giving birth at the Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital (GSCH) has alarmed family members, who are now calling for investigations into the issue.
The family of the deceased, who hailed from Ezulwini, wants the Ministry of Health to probe her death.
The deceased’s husband, Farai Chada said his wife had a clean bill of health when she was admitted to the hospital. Chada said her wife, Phetsile was the one who had preferred to deliver their baby at the GSCH.
He said her wife resided together with him at Ezulwini. According to the post-mortem, the findings about the cause of her death were still pending. She died on the night of February 22, while admitted at the hospital and the post-mortem was conducted on February 28. Fortunately, the baby survived, according to Victor. The post-mortem stateed that the cause of death would be determined pending toxicology and histopathological examination. Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, medicine that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating exposures to toxins and toxicants.
Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease. Chada recounted how he took his wife in the morning of February 22, 2023 to the hospital after she experienced labour pains. He said he waited until the evening, after which he resorted to go back to their residence in Ezulwini. He mentioned that he returned the following morning to check on his wife and was made to wait for almost five hours without being told if his wife had delivered their baby.
Condition
The businessman stated that he then asked one of the nurses about her condition, who then opened up and told him that she had died during the course of the delivery of the baby. He said the nurse had also wondered why the doctors had not relayed that information to him.
He further stated that he suspected that there was something amiss that happened during the delivery, which is why, according to him, they kept the news about his wife’s death from him.
Chada said one nurse had confided with him that his wife was not the only case of maternal death on the same night.
“It is so saddening that my wife was healthy when she was admitted, as she was experiencing labour pains. This has left me with unanswered questions on what happened during the birth-giving process,” the husband said. GSCH Communications Officer Zwelakhe Moahloli confirmed that the family of the deceased raised the concern. He said the issue was now being handled by the ministry.
“We are aware of the complaint raised by the client. It is unfortunate that she died during delivery. Anyone who has a grievance about death of their relative or family member is free to raise it with the hospital administration. We received the concern from the family and the matter is now at ministerial level,” he said. When asked about the allegations that the deceased was not the only one to have died while giving birth at the institution, Moahloli asked not to commit on the matter. The Ministry of Health Principal Secretary (PS) Simon Zwane said the matter had not yet been brought to his attention.