Zimbabwean baby vanishes from SA hospital

A 35 year old Zimbabwean mother is heartbroken after hospital staff at a South African hospital are failing to give an explanation over her missing baby. The incident happened at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child hospital. The mother of the missing child is Hilda Mpofu.

It is alleged that Mpofu gave birth to triplets prematurely, a boy and two girls. She currently has two babies, and one of the girls is reported to be missing. What transpired is that after giving birth z Mpofu was discharged and her babies were admitted. They ha to be kept under supervision at the hospital as per procedure when babies are born prematurely. Upon her return to the hospital, she was horrified to learn that one of the girls had been moved to the ICU. This was done after doctor’s raised a red flag on her health. She was denied access to the baby. Later on, the baby was declared dead by the hospital but when the Mpofu’s sister arrived at the hospital she was shown a deceased baby boy. She raised the issue with the doctor and was advised to go and get clarity from hospital staff. No one could give a plausible explanation.

To add salt to the injury, the file of the deceased baby boy which had initially said the child was a girl had been cancelled to reflect the baby’s correct gender.

The acting CEO of the hospital Dr Free Benson said there had been an error at the theatre where the baby was delivered. The clinician is said to have erroneously recorded that the last baby was a girl instead of a boy. He also said a paediatrician had met up with the family and offered free DNA testing to ascertain whether the deceased baby boy belonged to the Mpofu family and to clear the misunderstanding.

Mpofu’s sister said her sister was heartbroken and could not even speak. She stated,”She can’t even speak. That is why I am the one that must deal with this, and I am the one who recognised all this foul play. She is at breaking point. You know dealing with the fact that you have triplets and then now it’s like we are having a missing child”. Cases of child mismanagement of Zimbabwean nationals are very common in South Africa. Last year, a Zimbabwean woman delivered a baby while standing up resulting in the child landing on his head and dying after hospital staff