arrests after mother and baby die during childbirth

Published on : 02/09/2022 – 20:22

A new tragedy is shaking the hospital environment in Senegal. Three health professionals were arrested following the death of a mother and her baby during her delivery in the health center of Kédougou hospital, in the south-east of the country. These two deaths are in addition to other precedents highlighting the weaknesses of the Senegalese health system.

With our correspondent in Dakar, Thea Olivier

A gynecologist, an anesthetist and a nurse were taken into custody in Kédougou on Wednesday night following the death of a mother and her baby. An investigation has been opened once morest these three people, in particular for “manslaughter” according to Baye Thiam, the Kédougou prosecutor. In a statement, he referred to “a strong medical negligence ” as well as'” a manifest breach of the elementary rules of medicine ” in that case.

A report disputed by Fodé Danfakha, chief doctor of the Kédougou health district and regional secretary general of the Autonomous Union of Doctors of Senegal, who had called for a national strike on Friday September 2 to support their colleagues. “ All we ask is to have an expert opinion. That he can come and see what happened, question the people concerned. That’s what brings the light. But what is written in the press release is diametrically opposed to what was done during the treatment. »

According to him, the defendants should have remained free to continue to practice, in this region which faces a shortage of personnel with only two gynecologists and two anesthetist technicians who are currently either arrested or on strike.

« In the Kédougou region, the operating theaters are closed. The person who died is already dead but they are convicting who knows how many women until these colleagues are freed. They can summon them whenever they want. What is the point of putting them in custody, while endangering an entire population? »

The Senegalese association of obstetrician-gynecologists supported its colleagues, denouncing a “ arrestation abusive “. She claims that the team that cared for the pregnant woman and her baby resorted to ” obstetric technique appropriate. And to denounce the difficult working conditions in this poorest landlocked region of Senegal.

But the story of the death of the parturient in the press aroused emotion in the country. Especially since this death comes a few months following a series of dramas: the young Astou Sokhna, nine months pregnant, had died in Louga, last April, following twenty hours complaining of pain; then eleven babies died nearly two months later in a fire at the Tivaouane hospital.

President Macky Sall had recognized ” l’obsolescence of the health system and ordered its audit.

►Listen also: A day in the life of Kolda Regional Hospital in Senegal