Help sought to find mother of baby girl who died in hospital

The Eastern Cape Department of Health has issued a statement calling on the public to assist in tracking down a 30-year-old woman who allegedly abandoned her three-month-old baby girl at Grey Hospital in Qonce last month.

“The woman, registered as Anelisa Moyeni in our hospital records, arrived at the hospital with the baby on the afternoon of March 16 2022, in a critical condition.

“On arrival in the hospital, she presented herself as a single parent,” said department communication liaison officer Mkhululi Ndamase

“She did not know the whereabouts of the infant’s father, but provided his name and contact number on hospital records as one of the next-of-kin.”

Ndamase said the baby was admitted but died the same evening.

“She failed to produce any official documentation of the child and claimed she had a home birth on December 2.

“She claimed that the following day, after delivering the child, she took her to Bhisho Hospital for examination, where she claimed to have been given a Road to Health card.”

It is reported that Bhisho Hospital records do not reflect the women’s visit to the maternity ward nor her obtaining a Road to Health card on December 22.

“When health officials requested the Road to Health card, the woman said the card burnt in a shack and that she never applied for a birth certificate for her baby.

“The following morning after the child's death, Moyeni approached the hospital mortuary and requested that the child be cremated and left the hospital, without any notification.

“On March 22 2022, the hospital noticed that the woman had not come back to claim the body of the child.

“Hospital officials made calls to all the contact numbers of the relatives provided by the woman, including that of the said father of the baby reflecting on the register, with no success.

“In tracing the mother of the deceased, on March 23, the hospital social workers visited the address she had provided and also involved the community leader of Tolofiyeni village but she was not known in the area.

“It is at this point that the hospital involved the South Africa Police Service in search of the woman.

“On March 24, the police visited the address she had provided but could not find her,” Ndamase said.

“Both the facility and the police have done all the interventions in tracking the whereabouts of the mother of the deceased baby girl without any luck, and request public assistance in finding her or any of her relatives.”

The woman is described as tall and of medium build.

She was wearing a skirt, with a brown, long- sleeved top when she was last seen at Grey Hospital.

Social workers visited the address she had provided and asked the community leader of Tolofiyeni village but she was not known in the area.