A mother who had gone into coma had a stillborn because the doctor who was expected to be on duty on Wednesday night was ABSENT, say the nurses unions at the unique University Hospital of Burundi.
Nurses gather after their two-hour strike. They expressed concern that the gesture might be interpreted by doctors at CHUK as a declaration of war.
A mother fell into coma and gave birth to a dead baby at the University Hospital of Kamenge (CHUK) due to a doctor’s negligence according to nurses unions at the hospital.
The nurses say a pregnant woman who had to undergo a caesarean section to give birth was admitted to CHUK. They say she was transferred from another hospital in the eastern province of Ruyigi, over 160 km away from Bujumbura.
The doctor who was supposed to be on-call at night was nowhere to be found. Nurses then turned to another doctor for help. When the doctor arrived “it was too late. The mother had gone into coma, the baby dead”, says Blaise Nzambimana, the representative SYNAPA, a nurses union at the hospital.
The nurses say many similar incidents happen due to doctors. They complain that the consequences are blamed on them when they have done all they could as far as their formal and professional competence allows them”, says Nzambimana.
They say a similar case in which both the mother and the baby died caused many nurses to be sacked and others jailed.
Such problems occur in the maternity ward more than in any other department at the hospital, say the nurses.
At times, nurses see their salary downgraded because of problems caused by doctors. The nurses also say patients and their relatives blame them for not properly caring for them when in fact it’s not their responsibility.
On Thursday, the nurses went on a two-hour strike as a protest. “We want to show patients, our administration and the government that often accuse us of carelessness that we are not the problem. Doctors are the problem”, says Nzambimana.
“The personnel of CHUK stood up to say no to the repeated absences of doctors who do not show up when they were supposed to be on duty for the benefit of patients”, says Alice Nduwimana, the representative of SNTS, another nurses union at the hospital.
Many reports echoed by the nurses say the doctors go to their private offices when they are scheduled to be at the hospital.
The nurses blame the administration of the hospital for failing to manage the doctors. “We ask that the administration and the ministry of public health find solution to that problem once for all”, says Nzambimana.
Neither the CHUK administration nor the Ministry of Public Health was available to comment within the deadline.
IWACU Open Data
