A woman and her family are in pains, not only because they lost a new baby but the stillborn baby went missing minutes after she (the woman) had given birth.
Happy Baloyi, who was five months pregnant, said she was transferred to Nkensani Hospital in Giyani, Limpopo, recently after nurses confirmed her unborn baby had died.
The 27-year-old South African mother of one told Daily Sun she had accepted the loss of her baby and wanted to bury it properly, according to her culture.
“The baby was wrapped in sheets when a sister at the hospital called me to eat. When I went back to the ward it was not there, and there was another sister there who was busy collecting the sheets.
“The sister said she did not know where my baby was,” said Happy.
She said her baby was taken away before she could even see its gender.
Happy said she and her family visited the hospital last Tuesday, where an official told them they could report them at a police station, but there was nothing the hospital could do.
“The treatment I received from the doctor was good until my baby went missing. How can they tell us to go to the police station for help? I am so heartbroken,” she said.
She suspects that the nurse who collected the sheets from the ward knows where her baby is.
Her father, Willy Baloyi (53) said they do not have a problem with the death of the unborn baby; they just want the body so they can bury it.
“If the hospital is failing we will take the legal route and make them pay for what happened,” he said.
Neil Shikwambana, Limpopo Department of Health spokesman, said they had formed a team that was investigating the incident.
“We will revert to the family and update them on the matter within six weeks. We have met with them,” Shikwambana said.