The nurse who refused to help a woman to give birth at Matikwana Hospital in Mpumalanga has received a slap on the wrist and has been allowed to keep her job.
The Sunday World reported last month that Veronica Zwane, 30, from Belfast, near Kruger National Park, had a horror experience in September when she went to the facility to give birth to her third child.
On arrival, nurses reportedly refused to attend to her because she was wearing leggings instead of a dress. She was allegedly told that she sounded educated and knowledgeable that she could deliver the baby without any assistance.
It has since emerged that the nurse was found guilty after an internal investigation.
The Mpumalanga Department of health conceded the nurse, whom officials refused to name, was given a written warning. “The investigation has been concluded, one nurse was identified and communicated to, and the nurse has not been suspended.
“A final written warning has been issued considering the seriousness of the matter,” said department spokesperson Dumisani Malamule.
When asked why it took so long for the department to conclude its investigation, Malamule said the investigators had struggled to identify the nurse responsible for the incident.
He said the other factor that had delayed the investigation was that nurses had been on planned leave.
Zwane said she was not happy with the light punishment given to the nurse.
“I am very disappointed about the way the department handled the case. It pains me to hear that the woman was not even suspended. Another thing that makes my blood boil is the fact that I was abused by two nurses but now they only punished one nurse.
“I am going to interact with the Positive Women’s Network (PWN), a Mpumalanga-based health advocacy group to discuss this finding. I am going to challenge the findings,” said Zwane.
Despite all the difficulties she went through, she said her baby girl was doing well.
Thandi Maluka, PWN coordinator in the province, also lambasted the department for failing to punish the nurses.
Maluka said her organisation would challenge the finding.
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