A KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) domestic worker who called an emergency number in a bid to save her pregnant daughter’s life was told ”there were no workers and there was nobody at the hospitals”.
The 12-hour struggle to get an ambulance has left Busi Dlamini’s daughter on a ventilator battling for life with her dead, unborn baby inside her.
Dlamini, who was set to celebrate her 42nd birthday on Tuesday, spent most of Monday praying for her daughter’s life in St Augustine’s Hospital.
Her 19-year old daughter, Thabile Mthembu, was eight months’ pregnant with Dlamini’s first grandchild when she started having a fit on Sunday evening at their home in Illovo township on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
”I didn’t know that she had these [fits]. It was the first time that I have seen this.”
Dlamini told her daughter to lie on her side and then dialled 112 on her cellphone to get an ambulance.
”They told me that they could not send an ambulance because there were no workers and there was nobody at the hospitals.”
She spent the night looking after her daughter, not quite sure whom she should call. In the early hours of Monday morning she became concerned about her daughter’s condition.
She sent an SMS asking her employer, Gill Slaughter, to call her. She did not have airtime to call any friends for assistance.
Slaughter took up the case for Busi at 5.30am.
”I called 10177 [an emergency ambulance number] and they told me there wasn’t anything they could do.
”They told me to call ER24 or Netcare. They could not help.”
An ambulance finally arrived at 7am to take Dlamini’s daughter to hospital, more than 12 hours after the call to 112.
Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said Netcare had been given instructions to take Mthembu to Durban’s Addington Hospital.
It is believed that Mthembu’s fits had been caused by a condition known as pre-eclampsia — a disorder that is characterised by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine.
However, Mthembu’s condition deteriorated to such an extent that the ambulance transporting the 19-year-old stopped at Kingsway Hospital to stabilise her.
It was there that a doctor discovered that the unborn grandchild’s heart was no longer beating.
The Red Cross helicopter was called to airlift Mthembu to Addington, but moments before it was due to take off the crew were informed that they were not allowed to land at the hospital.
They were informed that there was a ”staffing problem”.
”Then we searched to find a hospital that could receive. We were given permission to proceed to St Augustine’s.”
Botha said that the authority ”wasn’t long” in coming from the provincial health department.
Botha said Mthembu could not be have been treated at Kingsway Hospital because there were no intensive care unit beds available.
Doctors at Durban’s St Augustine’s Hospital spent most of Monday trying to stabilise Mthembu before performing a Caesarian section on her.
Sitting in the waiting room outside St Augustine’s Hospital, Dlamini said: ”It [the strike] is horrible, man. It’s very bad. We could not find any support. I don’t know what I can say. It’s horrible.”
The doctor who treated the Mthembu could not be reached for comment.
Staff from provincial Emergency Medical Rescue Service in the greater Durban area downed tools over the apparent inability of the government to ensure their safety. Since then all ambulance calls have been handled by the smaller private ambulance services such as Netcare 911 and ER24.
The head of the KwaZulu-Natal health department, Dr Busi Nyembezi, said the provincial ambulance service in Durban had resumed its duties on Monday morning after staff were satisfied that that their safety concerns had been addressed.
The South African Press Association learnt late on Monday that the grandchild Busi Dlamini had been expecting was a baby boy. — Sapa