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Namibia: New Twist to Snakebite Death
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New Era (Windhoek)
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Kuvee Kangueehi
Windhoek
The Secretary General of the Namibia Nurses Union (NANU), Abner Shopati, claims that the nurses who attended to a baby that was bitten by a snake at the Katutura Hospital acted professionally in the execution of their duty.
Shopati said the blame should instead go to a non-registered Zambian doctor who was on duty on the specific day and not to the nurses.
Addressing a press conference in the capital yesterday, Shopati said NANU conducted an extensive investigation into the matter, following the widely publicised incident, which led to the public criticising nurses.
He said NANU set up an investigating committee, which was headed by him and studied all the evidence that was submitted to the Medical Professional Council and concluded that the nurses did not act with negligence.
He said the evidence consisted of written statements from the nurses on duty, doctors and witnesses that were at the Katutura Hospital on the fateful day.
He added that a statement by the baby's mother contradicted statements from the nurses, doctors and witnesses and the evidence clearly showed that a nurse after receiving the complaint from the mother attended to the baby and then handed the matter to the doctor.
The secretary general said there was nothing the nurse could do, as she had to wait for further instructions from the doctor before she could do anything.
Shopati said through the investigation, they discovered that the biggest concern is the number of doctors that the Ministry of Health and Social Services grants conditional registration without proper professional assessment.
He said all the doctors that come into the country and are contracted by the Government are "dished out the conditional registration". The situation prevents the Professional Health Council from fulfilling its legal mandate, which is to control and regulate health standards and training in the country.
He added that in order to avoid similar incidents, the Ministry of Health must give the full mandate of registering incoming doctors to the Health Professionals Council to fullfil its objective.
Shopati said nurses must not be made scapegoats, as there are other factors that contribute to delays in treating patients. He added that in the snakebite incident, the first doctor on standby was a medical intern. He was expected to attend to the matter while the qualified doctor was at home.
He said this is despite of the fact that all the doctors are on fixed overtime.
NANU's investigation was launched at the end of last month. The Health Professionals Council of Namibia launched its investigation into alleged negligence by nurses at the Katutura State Hospital where a three-day-old baby who was bitten by a snake was allegedly left to die at the casualty department
Three-day-old Mary Kafute Netumba died on February 16 after she was bitten by a snake at her mother's dwelling in the informal settlement of Havanah.
It is alleged that when the parents rushed the baby to hospital for medical attention, the nurses instead of treating the baby, ridiculed the mother and insisted she join the queue.
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The alleged behaviour by nurses on duty puzzled other patients who were in the queue.
"Only when my baby started bleeding from the nose and mouth did the nurses try to attend to her but it was too late," grief-stricken Pascalia Endjala, mother of the deceased baby told New Era earlier.
There was no immediate comment from the Katutura Hospital superintendent.
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