Two general nurses stationed at Mpilo Central Hospital have been arraigned before a Bulawayo court facing a charge of culpable homicide after they negligently caused the death of a newly born baby.
The court heard the two nurses who were on duty on the fateful night were nowhere to be seen when a woman who was in labour called out for help.
The State alleges the woman delivered a baby girl on her own but the baby slipped from the bed through the delivery blood hole of the maternity bed and hit the floor.
The nurses allegedly rushed into the room and took the baby to the resuscitation room and tried in vain to resuscitate the infant.
Sekesai Museka (41) of Parklands suburb and Ntombizodwa Ndlovu (36) of Cowdray Park suburb appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Lizwe Jamela facing a charge of culpable homicide.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charge and were remanded out of custody on free bail to March 26 for trial.
State representative Denmark Chihombe said the two nurses negligently caused the death of Purity Dube’s baby on November 20, 2019.
He said around 3 AM Dube suffered labour pains and called out to Museka and Ndlovu for assistance but they did not show up.
“Dube ended up delivering her baby girl on her own the baby then fell off the bed onto the floor through a delivery blood hole of the maternity bed. After some minutes the two nurses entered the room and Museka cut the umbilical cord from the baby. She took her to the resuscitation room trying to resuscitate her,” said Chihombe.
“The doctors came to attend to the baby in the resuscitation room but the two nurses did not disclose all the information that the baby had actually fallen from the bed. At around 5 AM, the baby was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. At around 10 PM on the same day, Dube was told her baby had passed on.”
Chihombe said the postmortem results revealed the cause of death was intracranial haemorrhage and head injuries.
