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Baby's death 'is a disgrace'
14/06/2007 08:27 - (SA)
Dirk Kok
Bloemfontein - A Free State family is in mourning after their baby died in his mother's arms, shortly after being discharged from hospital because of the strike.
Joyce Ditsoane and her family who live on the farm Lima, near Tweespruit in the Free State, say they feel raw and bitter.
Ditsoane's 13-month-old boy Mogalema died at home after being discharged from the Dr JS Moroka Hospital on Tuesday night, while the hospital prepared to strike.
"A nursing sister told me I had to take my child home, because there would be no-one there to care for him on Wednesday. They also informed the others and sent them home."
Ditsoane, whose baby had a lung infection, had kept watch at his bedside all of the previous week. She loaded him into a taxi for the 45km trip to the farm. He died at her parents' home shortly after they arrived home.
"I am hurt and angry. If they (the hospital) had looked after him, he would still be alive."
The boy's granny, Clementine, agreed that he would not have died if he had not been discharged, and said she was furious at the hospital.
A farmer who knows the family well said it was a disgrace. "This is an innocent child who has died."
At Moroka Hospital and the Botshabelo District Hospital, a handful of personnel performed only the absolutely necessary tasks.
Soldiers who were to have helped at Moroka Hospital from Tuesday night, did not arrive.
- Volksblad
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