A Reeston woman, who gave birth to a baby girl next to an East London roadside, had to allegedly wait for close on two hours before an ambulance took her and the baby to hospital yesterday.
Princess Bokolo, who was on her way to a clinic at the time, went into labour while walking along the Black Road.
Women working with the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) eventually came to her aid.
One of them, Nokhemesti Ngwengweyi, 62, said she had earlier noticed a heavily-pregnant Bokolo struggling to walk and screaming in agony.
The baby’s head and part of its body was already showing. She rushed over to Bokolo, helped her lie down before helping deliver the baby.
“I took off my doek and wrapped the baby in it because she was cold,” she said.
However she and her EPWP colleagues did not know how to cut the umbilical cord and had to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, an upbeat group of 10 EPWP workers said the baby girl was healthy.
“She was so big and beautiful and she cried which was a sign that she was fine, but she was cold so we wrapped her,” said Ngwengweyi.
Passerby Mandisa Nxadi, 46, who was on her way to Mdantsane, called the ambulance several times but it only arrived later.
“I was getting irritated and asked the call centre operator whether they want the baby to die from cold.”
Nxadi said the paramedics from the municipality’s ambulance service, who were called from 9am, only arrived at the scene at 10.30am.
The Dispatch visited Bokolo and her baby at Empilweni Health Centre in Gompo, and although she did not want to be photographed, she was doing well and in the company of the baby’s father. The couple have not yet decided on a name.
However, the EPWP workers cheekily said they had dubbed her “Nondlela” .
Provincial department of health spokesman Siyanda Manana, said they were investigating why the ambulance responded so late. — malibongwed@dispatch.co.za
Woman delivers baby in road
Princess Bokolo, who was on her way to a clinic at the time, went into labour while walking along the Black Road.
Women working with the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) eventually came to her aid.
One of them, Nokhemesti Ngwengweyi, 62, said she had earlier noticed a heavily-pregnant Bokolo struggling to walk and screaming in agony.
The baby’s head and part of its body was already showing. She rushed over to Bokolo, helped her lie down before helping deliver the baby.
“I took off my doek and wrapped the baby in it because she was cold,” she said.
However she and her EPWP colleagues did not know how to cut the umbilical cord and had to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, an upbeat group of 10 EPWP workers said the baby girl was healthy.
“She was so big and beautiful and she cried which was a sign that she was fine, but she was cold so we wrapped her,” said Ngwengweyi.
Passerby Mandisa Nxadi, 46, who was on her way to Mdantsane, called the ambulance several times but it only arrived later.
“I was getting irritated and asked the call centre operator whether they want the baby to die from cold.”
Nxadi said the paramedics from the municipality’s ambulance service, who were called from 9am, only arrived at the scene at 10.30am.
The Dispatch visited Bokolo and her baby at Empilweni Health Centre in Gompo, and although she did not want to be photographed, she was doing well and in the company of the baby’s father. The couple have not yet decided on a name.
However, the EPWP workers cheekily said they had dubbed her “Nondlela” .
Provincial department of health spokesman Siyanda Manana, said they were investigating why the ambulance responded so late. — malibongwed@dispatch.co.za
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