Death of a baby

One small tragedy in the midst of so many

On January 18 this year Primrose Marufu began experiencing labour pains, two months earlier than expected. Her husband Nathaniel rushed her to Glen View Polyclinic in Harare. But they were turned away. Glen View had been without electricity for three weeks at that time. They were refered instead to Harare Central Hospital.

Primrose was admitted at Central Hospital, and her little boy was born just a few minutes later. As is normal practice for such a premature birth, the child was placed in an incubator, where it was expected to remain for four weeks.

Three days later they came to tell Primrose that her son was dead. Stunned, stricken with grief, she and Nathaniel demanded to know why. The answer horrified them.

They were told that the death was caused by a cut in the electricity supply, which caused the incubator to fail. And the hospital could not use its own generators because there was no fuel for them.

Primrose refused to believe that Harare Hospital, the country's largest referal centre, could fail to have a reserve of fuel. She wanted to know more.

"The nurses told me that at the beginning of the year fuel had been set aside for exactly that purpose. But all of it had disappeared, because the hospital managers had shared it out between them and sold it on the black market."

After hearing the couple's story I visited the neonatal unit at Harare Hospital, where all premature babies are expected to receive specialist care. The unit has 50 incubators, but only one is in working order. Neither is there equipment for monitoring either oxygen intake or heart function.

A junior doctor told me: "It has become normal practice to find a dozen or so dead children in the trays every day. This unit has become a death bed."

I asked to speak to a senior neontologist (a specialist in the care of the newborn). There are none. The last one left in 2003.

The Chief Executive of Harare Central Hospital, Jealous Nderere, refused to talk to me. He referred me to the Heath minister, David Parirenyatwa. His office told me: "The Minister is currently in Murehwa, preparing for the elections. These days it is very difficult to find him in the office. He is running around campaigning for his re-election on March 29."

I am going to find this last paragraph difficult to write. Primrose and Nathaniel had longed for their baby. They chose a name for him on the day he was born. It was Takunda. Which translates as "We have conquered." 

Comments

[Patson]

It is sad that innocent babies are dying because of a few selfish individuals. History will judge them harshly