Baby stillborn due to 'hospital negligence’

An Otjiwarongo woman&#039;s full-term baby was stillborn after hospital staff allegedly refused to treat her days earlier.On Sunday, 6 March, Yvonne Pollmann (38), who was nine months pregnant at the time, was in immense pain and asked her husband to take to her to hospital around 18h00. She was immediately admitted to Otjiwarongo State Hospital&#039;s maternity ward.According to her, she was told by the nurses that the pain she was experiencing was normal contractions, and that she&#039;d caught a cold.“When the pain started to get worse, I begged the doctor to do an immediate operation [Caesarean section] and they ignored me. That is when I called my husband to come give consent so I get an immediate operation,” she said.Her husband Rodney Pollmann (44), who is an administrative officer at the hospital, said after dropping his wife off, he was asked to leave as there was "no need" for him to stay.“At 20:23, my wife called me and told me that the pain was too much and she could not handle it and that I should organise an emergency C-section. I got to the hospital as fast as I could and found one doctor attending to her,” he said.Pollmann added that he explained the situation to the doctor and granted permission for them to do an emergency operation, but his request was also ignored.“We as the family left and went home. I came back later to check on my wife and was informed that the doctor who was on duty would only see my wife on Monday. This without examining her,” he said.Three babies deadPollmann alleged that the doctors failed to take his wife&#039;s situation seriously and instead gave her a pill on Monday to help with the pain; however, two hours later, she was still in pain.“My wife was only operated on around 01:15 on Tuesday and the baby was declared dead," Rodney said. "After begging the nurses and doctors to do a C-section on my wife since Sunday!”Namibian Sun has established that three babies died that same day.According to health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe, the details of what happened to the babies will only be known after investigations by appropriate authorities are completed.He added that each loss of life is painful and regrettable. "Our health professionals are committed to doing their utmost to ensure that we produce the best health outcomes in all instances," he said. “It is a standing practice that all incident files and records are thoroughly reviewed to provide a full understanding of elements involved in each case." Nangombe added that his office received a brief report about the incidents, and for purposes of transparency and accountability, an investigative team will be assigned to look into the matter and render comprehensive reports.He said the outcome of the investigations will determine the types of sanctions against the healthcare professionals involved, in terms of the provisions of the Public Service Staff Rules and the Health Professions Councils of Namibia.

Baby stillborn due to 'hospital negligence’

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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Baby stillborn due to 'hospital negligence’

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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