Gladys Mokgotho, 55, a Limpopo street vendor, cried in despair as other women around her watched in horror while she unwrapped the umbilical cord from the neck of baby boy outside the gates of a closed clinic.
The crowd would squirm at every turn of her hand around the baby’s neck as she tried to save the infant who had been born outside the gates of the Burgersfort clinic while nurses apparently refused to come out to help, claiming their shift had not begun.
These scenes played themselves out around 6.30am on Tuesday, about 30 minutes before the clinic’s official opening time.
The incident is being investigated by the provincial health department after a video capturing part of the events went viral on social media. The department has also explained that the facility opens at 7am and the 24-hour services it used to provide were halted two years ago as staff on night shift faced attacks from criminals.
On Tuesday, Mokgotho, who has been trading outside the clinic for years, was preparing her stall to sell vetkoeks to patients at 6am when her instinct called her into action. What appeared to be a normal day at work, ended with Mokgotho helping 27-year-old Thandi Phasha to deliver her second child.
Mokgotho said she heard commotion and asked her son to go and check what was happening at the gate.
On his return, he said a woman was giving birth near the gate.
“I immediately decided to leave my stall and ask my son to look after it. When I got there a group of people were yelling at the security guards asking them to open the gate. Other women were crouching around the mother using their shawls to shield her for privacy,” she said.
Mokgotho said when she moved closer, she realised that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck which worried her. The women around her were panicking, while Phasha’s mother Maria Phasha, who was kneeling next to her daughter, pleaded for Mokgotho to help.
“When I realised that the umbilical cord was around the baby's neck I started to cry. I feared for his life. I cried as I tried to gently unwrap it,” she said. It took her about 15minutes to carefully remove the tube while the group called on the nurses inside the clinic for help. Nobody came out immediately as they were told the clinic opens at 7am.
When she picked up the baby it started to cry. This was followed by loud cheers of relief from the group which had been looking worried.
Meanwhile, Phasha laid on the ground wreathing from pain. Mokgotho decided against cutting the umbilical cord as there were no tools available. One of the women broke a bottle and handed her a shard.
“But I could not take the risk. I had no protective gloves but I wanted to save a life,” Mokgotho said.
She said minutes later a nurse appeared and told the crowd to stop yelling at her because her shift only starts at 7am. The nurse helped to cut the umbilical cord.
“I asked for a wheelchair but she said there was no wheelchair and we would have to help the mother get inside the clinic. It was a difficult task as we had to wrap her with shawls and help her walk,” she said.
Mokgotho, a mother of four, said she was glad the baby’s life was saved.
“I am glad I could save a precious life. The nurses didn’t want to come do their job and I did their work for them,” she said.
Phasha’s mother said they were grateful for Mokgotho’s help. Phasha, who is deaf, is unemployed and survives on state grant for her disability.
Phasha said they had just arrived at the local post office just before 6am to queue up so her daughter could get her social grant when she started experiencing labour pains.
She said they then got a taxi to the clinic but the facility had not yet opened.
“People told us that the gates open at 7am but my daughter’s contractions were getting worse. So, we decided to place some shawls on the ground and before long she gave birth,” Maria said.
She said both Phasha and the baby were doing well after being transferred to Mecklenburg Hospital.
In the viral video, a group of women is seen trying their best to shield the patient from prying eyes, while at the same argue with a very vocal senior nurse who appears to be getting ready to attend to the patient.
“Don’t shout at me, you know my shift starts at 7am,” the nurse could be heard screaming at the aggrieved crowd.
mahopoz@sowetan.co.za
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