Hospital staff say they threw baby in deep pit, mother says it’s a lie

Mukono, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Police at Mukono are investigating a case of extreme cruelty  inflicted on a mother by staff of Mukono General Hospital who took awa a mother’s newly born baby and claim it died and they threw the body in a deep pit though the mother insists the body they claim to have retrieved from a pit after a day is not at all her baby’s.

Rose Baisi 29, a resident at Kigombya village in Mukono district, was shock on Saturday evening after delivering twins but was told by midwives in Mukono General Hospital that she had given birth to one child after carrying a pregnancy of twins for nine months.

The stranded mother lay on the maternity bed  puzzled until her husband arrived than she immediately told him to file a case for a missing new born person at Mukono Police Division.

At the police station, the husband was curiously referred back to the hospital “to sort matters out there” but nothing was done until Sunday evening when midwives apologized to the parents, they had not noticed the second baby who had remained with the placenta.

Baisi says she demanded the body but the medical workers argued that it had already been thrown away into the deep pit.

Since the ward is congested and busy, they were discharged with only one baby but late in the night midwives contacted them to come for their body.

“They midwives begged us not to reveal this to the press, and also requested that we forgive them since the midwife who did not reorganize the baby was new, but it is hard to forgive and impossible to forget, it is too painful” Baisi notes adding that the wrong dead body given to them did not have any signs of staying in a deep pit for even an hour, let alone a day, though the husband accepted to bury it.

Midwives at Mukono general hospital declined to clarify on the matter since none of them was willing to say anything about the matter referring us the Medical Superintendent-MS who was out of office at the time.

Ismael Kifudde, the officer in charge-OC of Mukono police division says the matter is under investigation. 

Rose’s antenatal progress examination report obtained by URN indicate that a scan was carried out on March 30, and indicated that the pregnancy was for twins.

Jane Namukasa a neibhour to Rose Baisi at Kigombya wonders how a midwife could not tell a baby from a placenta and threw it away in a pit, and what kind of supervision goes on at Mukono Genral Hospital.

Reports at the Mukono general hospital indicate that there has been no recent recruitment of a midwife as the staff claimed that he one who mistakenly threw Rose’s baby in a pit was new.

Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the district suspended hiring and allowing volunteers at the hospital citing limited space which would compromise the implementation of the standard operating procedures, which means the staff could be lying that the baby was thrown away by a new staff.

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URN