By Judith Sibanda
A Victoria Falls couple that was involved in a nine-month standoff with the Victoria Falls Hospital following the mysterious death of their newly born baby has officially apologised to the hospital authorities after investigations cleared the institution of any wrongdoing.
The couple, Juliet Dube and Faison Nyathi have been at loggerheads with Victoria Falls government-run hospital since August 29 last year, after receiving an anonymous tip-off that the midwives had dropped another patient’s child during delivery and quickly switched theirs to cover their tracks.
The incident sparked protests in the resort town with residents demanding answers from the hospital.
Officials at the hospital then resolved to hire a private investigator in an attempt to solve the mystery.
After the incident, the family requested for post-mortem and the Victoria Falls police took the body to Bulawayo to a pathologist who concluded in his report that the examined child had died due to head injuries.
The couple and the hospital also conducted separate DNA tests to prove the paternity of the infant.
A meeting between the two parties was held last week where the separate DNA results were opened and both results showed that the deceased infant belonged to the couple.
In a letter addressed to the health ministry, the family’s spokesperson Bornwell Sibanda said it was unfortunate that the incident had to escalate to that level.
“As the Nyathi family, we write this letter to you in connection with the DNA results for our child who died on August 29 at the hospital.
“We like to apologise to the ministry of health and Victoria Falls hospital staff for the allegations and misunderstanding between the two parties. The raising of eyebrows was due to his sudden passing and failure to explain what had happened to him. We want to thank the hospital for allowing us to conduct our own DNA tests,” read the letter.
The family lawyer Givemore Muvhuringi of Muvhiringi and Partners said his clients would have to undergo counselling to recover from the incident.
A private doctor identified as Dr Gwenhamo who operated on the baby said the child had a foul smell and was suspected to have drunk amniotic fluid from his mother.
A post mortem report confirmed that the deceased had sustained head injuries but could not ascertain the cause of the injury.
It was later revealed that the head injuries could have been caused by his mother’s pelvic area that could not expand enough during birth.
The child was finally buried on Tuesday last week at Victoria Falls Council owned cemetery.
