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Maternity unit evacuated as striking nurses stop doctors from helping pregnant women

Maternity unit evacuated as striking nurses stop doctors from helping pregnant women
Professor Mfundo Mabenge at the Dora Nginza hospital in Port Elizabeth.( Photo: Theo Jeptha)
Estelle Ellis
By Estelle Ellis
7 Oct 2022
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The centre for specialist care for mothers and babies at Dora Nginza Hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay was shut down on Thursday and patients were evacuated to other hospitals after nurses embarked on a violent unprotected strike.

The head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Nelson Mandela Bay’s Dora Nginza Hospital, Dr Mfundo Mabenge, was held hostage and prevented from admitting pregnant women in distress as nurses at the facility protested about their working conditions.

It is understood that the police had to escort him out of the hospital complex.

Doctors, who asked to remain anonymous because they fear retribution from the Department of Health, said they were sickened by the abuse that their pregnant patients had to suffer at the hands of the striking nurses. “How can you chase these sick patients away and not admit them?”

“I haven’t slept since Monday,” one doctor said as they evacuated themselves and their patients to Livingstone Hospital.

maternity unit strike mabenge Dr Mfundo Mabenge at the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth.( Photo: Theo Jeptha)



In video material of the violent confrontation between Mabenge and the nursing staff, he can be heard crying and pleading for them to help patients. 

Read in Daily Maverick: "Nelson Mandela Bay state hospitals face collapse – doctors resign on ‘unprecedented’ scale"

Warnings of major crisis


In correspondence seen by Maverick Citizen, doctors have warned since July 2021 that there was a major crisis brewing in the obstetrics department because of dire staff shortages.  

The maternal mortality rate and neonatal stillbirth rates have also been rising.

At the time, the waiting period for an elective C-section was 11 days and 8-10 hours for an emergency C-section. An overworked team of obstetricians was performing between 25 and 30 emergency C-sections a day. The Department of Health ascribed these delays to a 31% increase in the birth rate at the facility from 2016/2017.

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On Thursday, patients had to be moved to another hospital and theatres hastily prepared after they were prevented from receiving care at Dora Nginza Hospital, which is the centre for maternal and paediatric care for the western part of the Eastern Cape.

Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Yonela Dekeda confirmed that a contingency plan had to be activated to “decongest” the hospital of patients, with emergency cases being referred to Port Elizabeth’s Provincial Hospital.

“With immediate effect, eight beds have been prepared at Port Elizabeth’s Provincial Hospital, with additional beds that will be made available on demand. The theatre at the hospital was prepared to be put in use from 7pm.”

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Medical staff drafted in


Doctors and nurses from across the district had to be called in to provide anaesthetics, obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, neonatology, nursing and non-clinical support services.

“The designated ward and theatre had been staffed and equipped with the relevant recruitment and medication,” Dekeda said. The provincial ambulance service was helping to transfer patients to other hospitals. 

Dekeda said the strike was unprotected and the nurses were refusing to engage with senior management or return to work.

“The department takes this very seriously and the administrative and legal remedies at our disposal are being deployed,” she said.

“While it is claimed that this action arises out of concern for communities and patients, the current action clearly does not demonstrate concern for the wellbeing of those we have pledged to serve.” DM/MC

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