Victim of medical mishap receives assistance

When Mongiwethu Mathe (27) went to Mpilo Central Hospital to deliver her first child in December 2019, she did not anticipate that she would have major health complications. However, since then she has been experiencing leakages from her private parts as a result of poor maternal health care services.

Mathe’s predicament will soon come to an end as she has undergone an operation and is expected to show signs of recovery in the next three weeks. Her rectum was cut during childbirth as an episiotomy was conducted on her and resultantly, she has been using colostomy bags to relieve herself.

Episiotomy is an incision made in the perineum- the tissue between the vaginal opening and the anus- during childbirth.

“I was operated on Tuesday in Harare. Although the doctor notified me that my healing chances may be low as I had been operated on several times without success, I want to remain hopeful and positive that in three weeks I will be better and able to use my normal system,” said Mathe.

Mathe received referrals to Amnesty International where she has since received the assistance that she required.  Mathe is a student at United College of Education (UCE)  in Bulawayo and says the health complications that she is faced with are a major setback for her career and personal life.

“I have to study and this is holding me back. When I went for my temporary teaching stint at Mawaba Primary school, I would on several occasions excuse myself so that I change the colostomy bag but when I am at UCE I do not have this opportunity as I am a non-res student and this becomes difficult,” she said.

Mathe is disappointed by the treatment she received from Mpilo Central Hospital as she says they were negligent and she was unfairly treated.

“At Mpilo Hospital they made me a fool. They later admitted that they made a mistake but when I went there to seek assistance, they did not give me the help that I needed. They operated on me but did not finish what they started and I continued to experience leakages,” she said.

Mathe says she cannot recall the number of times that she sought medical assistance at Mpilo Hospital and other health institutions since her ordeal, as her medical records have filled at least two 32 page counter books.

“When I gave birth, nurses were on strike and they repeatedly said they were not getting enough money for the work they are doing, now I do not know if this was a mistake or it was done deliberately,” she elaborated.

In July this year, Women’s Institute for Leadership Development released a statement condemning the poor-quality of health service provision for expectant mothers which holds back progress on improving access to quality Maternal Care in Zimbabwe as the organisation was particularly taken aback by Mathe’s experience.

WILD is of the belief that Government should create channels for reporting health mishaps and enable citizens to get proper treatment and compensation. WILD calls upon healthcare centres to provide quality healthcare services for all women.