Four Tshwane nurses dismissed

Four Tshwane nurses have been dismissed after a woman was forced to give birth on a pavement, the Gauteng health department said on Wednesday night.

 

"The implicated nurses were charged and the case concluded, with a sanction to dismiss them from public service in April 2013," said spokesman Chris Maxon. "The four nurses lodged an appeal against the sanction and this is yet to be finalised." On November 16 last year, the woman was turned away from the Soshanguve community health centre in Tshwane and subsequently delivered a baby boy on the pavement outside the clinic.

 

The matter was reported to the department, and an investigation was initiated. It was unclear why they turned the woman away. Maxon said the SA Nursing Council had also instituted disciplinary proceedings against the four, which may lead to them being prevented from practising as nurses in the country. "The department will act swiftly against those who are giving the department a bad name, deprive citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed right and threaten the lives of expecting mothers and their babies," he said.

 

-Sapa