Ezra Tshisa Sibanda on 5 weeks old TWIN babies who died at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo

I have never felt so useless in my life because of what l experienced last night. I paced up and down outside Mpilo Hospital like a madman phoning the hospital staff pleading with them to help attend to the little girl who was gasping for air. I was not allowed inside the ward, and the poor grandmother was with the struggling baby inside. She was ignored and lost in translation talking to the rude male nurse on duty. Language became a problem between the 2 and the nurse also told her he couldn’t speak Ndebele. When the male nurse finally agreed to pick my phone, l pleaded with him to help even administer drip, but he said the doctor who saw the baby in the casualty forgot to enter it in their chart report so he won’t do it. The baby was admitted at around 8.30pm with breathing difficulties, vomiting and having a running tummy.

“I then contacted Mpilo reception, asking if they could call the doctor on call, and the kind receptionist called him and then called me back saying the doctor has instructed the male nurse to administer oxygen to the baby, and this was around 1.00 am, 5 hours later. The male nurse told me he was attending to other patients first and would do that when he finishes. Little Keilla fought and fought while l stayed on the phone with gogo until I heard the screams of gogo omncane crying. I felt an excruciating pain in my heart and l knew she had gone. It was pure negligence by the nurse, just like what happened to her sister the previous day. Such nurses soil the name of good nurses and shame the profession.