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Thandeka Moyo Court Reporter
A MPILO Central Hospital medical doctor has admitted staff were negligent after a woman died hours after giving birth.
Dr Alimon Maphosa, who operated on Samantha Shingirai, yesterday told an inquest that her life could have been saved if professional standards had been met.
Shingirai bled to her death on March 14, 2012, after giving birth through Caesarean section.
The ongoing inquest at the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Court heard that pregnant Shingirai — who was bleeding in the womb — was admitted at 9AM. Midwife, Nonhlahla Bhebhe, indicated that her situation needed urgent surgery.

But she was not operated on until 5PM on the same day — about eight hours later. It was too late to save her, Dr Maphosa said.
Shingirai’s husband, Chamunorwa Makombe, is blaming hospital staff for his wife’s death after she gave birth to a baby girl. The child is healthy and now two.

Dr Maphosa told the inquest before acting regional magistrate, Chrispen Mberewere: “I wish to apologise to the family, the court and the country for the loss of Shingirai. If right measures were taken at the right time, her death could have been avoided.

“I feel we could have done much better than what happened to save her. She was a good candidate for an urgent operation and her card was even written ‘C Section start now’, but her condition was not prioritised as suggested by the midwife and doctor.

“We only attended to the bleeding woman after 5PM, though she was admitted about 9AM. It was clear to the admitting midwife that she was in a bad condition as she was bleeding and immediate theatre was suggested for her.

“However, due to reasons unknown to me, we only operated her after 5PM and she had bled profusely by then. Her blood pressure was also high and misleading and it was too late to save her.”

The doctor said after carrying out the operation, he assigned some doctors to monitor her and left the room.
She seemed fine afterwards, but Dr Maphosa said he was notified at 10PM that his patient had collapsed.

“We’re truly sorry for the loss and we hope the family will understand that we’re also in pain,” he added.
Makombe, however, questioned why the doctors who were assigned to monitor his wife were nowhere to be found after her operation and only appeared to report that she had collapsed.

“I get that you assigned some doctors to monitor my wife, but how come when my wife’s situation deteriorated they were nowhere to be seen in the room or around the building? We failed even to locate the doctors using the switchboard and I wonder what they were monitoring, since my wife who was in critical condition was left unmonitored until she died.”

The inquest continues on May 16 where another midwife is expected to testify.
Makombe is believed to be preparing to sue the hospital for negligence when the inquest ends.