Denver Isaacs
24 June 2009
FIFTEEN women who claim that doctors at State hospitals across the country sterilised them against their wishes will soon get their day in court.
The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) yesterday confirmed that court dates have been set down in October and November for several of the cases.
The LAC last month said it was following up on allegations by at least 20 HIV-positive women who claim they were either forced or coerced into being sterilised when they went to hospital to give birth.
The first of the cases were reported in February last year.
Of the 15 cases currently under investigation, 13 allegedly happened at Windhoek's Katutura and Central State hospitals.
The remaining two cases were reported from the Onandjokwe and Oshakati State hospitals.
"The majority of the clients had no knowledge that they had even actually been sterilised. Some returned to healthcare facilities to access family planning just to be informed that there is no need for them to go on contraception because they have been sterilised," the Project Co-ordinator for the LAC's AIDS Law Unit, Amon Ngavetene, told The Namibian yesterday.
Others claimed they were told that sterilisation was a "precondition" for them to access other services, he said.
"In some cases clients who needed a caesarean section for the delivery of their babies were informed that they would only be offered a caesarean section if they agreed to be sterilised at the same time," Ngavetene said.
In the case reported against an Oshakati State Hospital doctor, the patient, identified only as LM, said she was aware of what was being asked of her.
She reported that she arrived at the Oshakati State Hospital in "extreme physical pain", and in need of a doctor to perform a caesarean section on her.
According to the woman, she feared that delivering her baby vaginally would significantly increase the risk of her transmitting HIV to her child.
She claims that the nurse refused to call a doctor until she consented to the sterilisation procedure.
The woman further charged that the nurse in question neglected to inform her of the irreversible nature of the procedure.
"What is more, their explanation was in English, a language that the plaintiff did not understand, and thus it is unclear whether she even understood that she was being sterilised in the first place," Ngavetene said.
He said the AIDS Law Unit had solicited the services of a specialist gynaecologist to examine all the clients, and to testify in court as an expert witness.
While the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Gladys Kamboo, could not be reached for comment, it is understood that the Ministry's defence in all these cases will be that the clients gave written consent for the sterilisation, and as a result have no claim against either the Ministry or the doctors cited.
The Ministry's Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary also were unavailable for comment yesterday.
The first cases are scheduled to be heard between October 20 and 23, while a second batch is expected to be in court between November 24 and 27.
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