DECUPLETS: Doctor confirms recent C-section, multiple pregnancy

AS THE saga around the birth of multiple babies to Moliehi Maria Sithole – also known as Gosiame Thamara – unfolds, it turns out that Sithole was indeed pregnant and delivered on June 7 this year.

The pregnancy was confirmed by independent medical practitioner, Dr Mpho Pooe, who carried out a full medical examination of Sithole after she was released from Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.

Pooe, who has been in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics for more than 15 years, made findings that are in stark contrast with those of the medical experts who examined Sithole after she was admitted to Tembisa Hospital on June 18, after the Department of Health invoked the Mental Health Act.

On June 23, the Gauteng Provincial Government issued a statement stating that it had been established by medical experts (unnamed) that Sithole had not given birth to any babies and that she had not been pregnant in recent times.

Independent Media has since sent numerous queries to various government departments, and to the implicated medical personnel, and the response has been that this statement stands.

However, in an interview, Pooe said when she examined Sithole on October 1, her findings were “quite scary” as this was a woman who appeared to have been abused by the system.

“Unethical processes were practised by the medical health workers, which is surprising, and even people who we were supposed to trust didn’t protect her or advocate for her health.”

Pooe said Sithole had been unjustly perceived and portrayed as a liar and someone who had mental health issues.

In her findings, Pooe also ruled out the possibility of Sithole potentially suffering from pseudocyesis.

Pseudocyesis, also known as a phantom pregnancy, is a condition in which the patient has all the signs and symptoms of pregnancy except for the confirmation of the presence of a foetus. “But never in history has it been found that a woman can pretend to have 10 babies or even a multiple pregnancy,” said Pooe. “This woman went through the complications of a multiple pregnancy.”

Pooe said how Sithole was admitted to Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital and how she was diagnosed as a person with psychiatric illnesses, raised questions on what procedures were followed.

“To have someone admitted you would have to follow the Mental Health Care Act and there must be collateral history. Collateral history would be provided by the people close to her, such as members of her family, relatives, neighbours or someone who stays with her,” she said.

She said those who had been in contact with Sithole over the past year had said, even in affidavits, that she was pregnant and there were no signs of any psychiatric illness.

“This is a woman with a history of multiple pregnancies – the twins, the triplets and then the decuplets – and can be classified as a gravida 4 para 16, which means she is a super ovulator. She also has a file number, which I have verified to be from Steve Biko Hospital. Sithole was pregnant and she gave birth, and has a recent Caesarean scar,” said Pooe.

Pooe said there were a lot of factors that showed that there was something amiss in this case and she called for it to be investigated further. “The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) need to be involved.”

Pooe said that for her it was apparent that not everything was done by the book, and it appeared as though it was done according to “somebody” who was trying to hide something. The health workers involved should be reported to the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and justice must prevail.

In his report, advocate Michael Donen SC, who chaired an independent commission of inquiry into the matter, found that a plethora of evidence suggested that Sithole was pregnant before June 7 this year.

“Although a witness for the departments of Health and Social Welfare, Gauteng, has stated on oath, that medical reports show that Ms Sithole was not pregnant at that time, those reports have never been produced.

“Were they to be, the doctors who drafted them would have to be called to testify, and be cross-examined, and be believed, before the perceptions and conclusions of Ms Sithole’s husband, friends, church members, as well as Mr Rampedi – to the effect that Ms Sithole was heavily pregnant – could be dismissed out of hand, as the result of an ingenious deception perpetrated over many months and in many ways,” reads Donen’s report.

Sithole was discharged from Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital on August 9 and remains resolute in her assertion that she gave birth to 10 live babies.