Mpilo in yet another glitch. . . stitch up woman’s entire private part

By Tatenda Gapare

A BULAWAYO woman spent two months without relieving herself after nurses at Mpilo Central Hospital allegedly stitched her entire private part after she had given birth.

Ms Kudzayi Nyaira (21) had to endure more than 26 hours of pain from 12 October to 13 October, after nurses from Nkulumane Clinic and Mpilo alleged that her organ was too small to enable her to give a normal birth.

In an interview with Sunday News, Ms Nyaira revealed that she first went to Nkulumane Clinic where nurses ignored her and only took action after she started bleeding.

“My labour was very long, I think it took about 26 hours or more. Initially I went to Nkulumane Clinic where I was referred to Mpilo Hospital with the nurses telling me that my organ was too small and that the baby was tired.

“When I got to Mpilo the nurses asked me why I had been transferred to the hospital. They said Nkulumane nurses were lazy as they lied about my organ being small.

“The situation got worse as they put me in a waiting room alone so that I could go for a Caesarean operation. My contractions were increasing, I called them but to no avail. They all went away and ignored me,” said Ms Mpofu.

She said after noting that no-one was coming to her rescue she started delivering on her own as she now could feel the baby’s head coming out.

“I could feel the baby’s head coming out so I started pushing very hard and I got lucky as a male nurse passed by and came to rescue me.

“He tried to stretch my private part so that the baby could come out but this did not work so he cut my organ and the baby immediately came out. The problem is a lot of blood gushed out and the room was full of blood on the floor,” she said.

Ms Nyaira said two nurses then came to stitch her privates from 2am to 3am but they failed, saying too many veins had been ruptured and she was bleeding excessively.

“Another male nurse came and tried to stitch me until he stopped giving me the pain reliever injection. As if that was not enough, I could feel the needle piercing through me. It was so painful, more than labour to the extent that when he was done I could not even walk as I was too weak and became partially blind and deaf.

“The doctor came the following morning and discharged me saying there was nothing wrong with me. To my surprise I went to post-maternity and they did not bother to write a report of me being admitted and discharged,” she said.

The young mother also revealed that she could not even hold her baby at home as she was not feeling well and kept on collapsing until she was referred to Mpilo as she had high blood pressure.

“I was taken to a gynaecologist at Mpilo who then examined me. I was disappointed by the results as he found out that I had anaemia and a blood infection, a deadly one called puerperal sepsis. He even discovered that during my stitching, my vagina was entirely closed as they had entirely stitched it; he said my cervix was open for a very long time hence I got the blood infection.

“I was shocked as to why the doctor discharged me without noting all these challenges. He then removed the stitches. It was very painful and I was admitted for one week. They put me on drip and injected me with different types of medicine,” she said.

Up to date, Ms Nyaira revealed that her organ was still painful and she has problems when she is trying to relieve herself.

“Some discharge comes out from my private parts every day and I hardly relieve myself. My mum has to do rectal cleansing for me to be able to relieve myself,” she said.

Ms Nyaira’s mother, Mrs Mary Nyaira, said Mpilo Central Hospital was responsible for her daughter’s sickness as they mistakenly stitched the whole of her private part after leaving her unattended for some time.

“My daughter is sick because of those nurses, now we don’t even know if she will able to bear more children as she faces a lot of difficulties in relieving herself. I am the one who pads her so that she can go to the toilet.

“There is money that we owe to Mpilo but they should not make us pay because our daughter’s private parts are damaged because of their nurses. I wish I could sue them,” she said.

Contacted for comment, Mpilo clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said he could not give a comment on the matter as he needed to investigate so as to find out what really happened.

“It’s difficult to say as this matter has to be accessed properly and under normal circumstances we have to examine her so we find out what really happened. In the first place it was wrong to remove the stitches to reduce infection, I think the person who did this is a junior,” said Dr Ngwenya.

The latest glitch comes at a time when the hospital is trying to save face after a man had his arm amputated last month after a nurse at the hospital allegedly gave him a wrong injection which caused it to rot.

The hospital admitted wrong-doing and performed the amputation free of charge. In another case, Bulawayo magistrate Mr Tinashe Tashaya ordered the Prosecutor-General’s office to investigate medical staff at Mpilo Central Hospital for alleged negligence following the mysterious death of a patient, Darlington Mangwiro, before he was taken to the theatre for a minor nose surgery.

Human error has also been reported at United Bulawayo Hospitals. Two months ago, a woman told The Chronicle, that she will never conceive again due to alleged negligence by UBH staffers who left a piece of cloth in her womb after she gave birth at the institution.

Source: The Sunday News