News / Regional
Boy living with exposed intestines
15 Feb 2015 at 06:00hrs | Views
A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy from Ntoli Village in Insuza is living with exposed intestines after failing to get an operation from Mpilo Central Hospital for over a year now amid allegations that doctors continue to postpone carrying out the procedure, Sunday News reported.
Nkosilamandla Ncube was born in June 2013 with an anorectal malformation which means that he cannot defecate as the regular opening is closed.
Two weeks after he was born doctors suggested that a stoma be performed.
A stoma is when the bowel is brought to the skin surface of the abdomen, so that human waste can be passed out of the body into a stoma bag.
According to his mother Ms Sanele Moyo, the doctors said he would be operated on later to correct the situation.
"After the operation I went with him for several checkups where he was referred to go for a scan in January last year," she said.
Ms Moyo said she was given a letter from local specialist radiologist Dr Danboy Gandanhamo which requested that her son go for a loopogram.
A loopogram is used to check the rest of the bowel before the operation to close the stoma, so that a child excretes waste the normal way.
The loopogram was pegged at $340 and Ms Moyo could not afford to have the scan done. The loopogram was meant to assess the state of the rectum so that an operation could be performed.
From January to December 2014 Ms Moyo said she failed to secure funds for the loopogram and the hospital staff were not lenient until she was discovered by a Sunday News crew that had visited Bubi District.
A picture was carried in the Sunday News which touched the heart of a local man.
The anonymous donor pledged to pay for the loopogram and it was done on 2 December 2014 with the hope that the child could be operated on soon after but the donor's wish of giving Nkosilamandla an early Christmas present were foiled.
Authorities at Mpilo Central Hospital told them that they could only carry out the operation on 20 January 2015 and they waited patiently but the long wait proved to be in vain as the operation was postponed again to March.
"I came to Bulawayo on the said date and I was referred to the next day where I was told that they still could not perform the operation and they said I must return in March," she said.
Contacted for comment Dr Wedu Ndebele, an official from the hospital said he was not in a position to comment on the issue.
A dejected Ms Moyo said she was now losing hope on her situation as she had spent more than a year trying to change the life of her child but due to financial constraints she had not been able to do much.
She said the hospital authorities said they had a waiting list and would only be free to accommodate her in March.
"They said I must come in March as they have a waiting list and maybe they will then operate on my son. As for now I am now returning to the village and I will be back in March," she said.
More than one year after he was scheduled to be operated on, baby Nkosilamandla still moves around with his intestine peeping through his stomach.
The sad part is that Nkosilamandla does not have a stoma bag which is supposed to carry all the waste.
"I use old rags to hold the waste that I tie on his waist but sometimes he bleeds from the opening and it is very uncomfortable for him," said Ms Moyo.
According to online research, a person like Nkosilamandla will need to wear a bag over the colostomy to collect stool as there is no way to control the bowel motions.
Wind will also be collected in the bag but the bag will have a filter that allows this wind to be passed without allowing odour to escape.
The bag will be closed across the bottom and will need to be changed after each bowel motion.
The story of baby Nkosilamandla is just one of the many cases of patients that are failing to access health care in the country's central hospitals due to either lack of commitment of the officials or problems related to lack of resources.
Hospitals are lamenting over low fiscal allocation and most of them are ill equipped to carry out some procedures.
Two weeks ago Mpilo Central Hospital suspended all surgical procedures owing to a critical shortage of oxygen kits.
This is not the first time the hospital has suspended surgical operations.
It did so in May last year after a critical shortage of drugs and operating consumables - leaving scores of patients stranded.
Nkosilamandla Ncube was born in June 2013 with an anorectal malformation which means that he cannot defecate as the regular opening is closed.
Two weeks after he was born doctors suggested that a stoma be performed.
A stoma is when the bowel is brought to the skin surface of the abdomen, so that human waste can be passed out of the body into a stoma bag.
According to his mother Ms Sanele Moyo, the doctors said he would be operated on later to correct the situation.
"After the operation I went with him for several checkups where he was referred to go for a scan in January last year," she said.
Ms Moyo said she was given a letter from local specialist radiologist Dr Danboy Gandanhamo which requested that her son go for a loopogram.
A loopogram is used to check the rest of the bowel before the operation to close the stoma, so that a child excretes waste the normal way.
The loopogram was pegged at $340 and Ms Moyo could not afford to have the scan done. The loopogram was meant to assess the state of the rectum so that an operation could be performed.
From January to December 2014 Ms Moyo said she failed to secure funds for the loopogram and the hospital staff were not lenient until she was discovered by a Sunday News crew that had visited Bubi District.
A picture was carried in the Sunday News which touched the heart of a local man.
The anonymous donor pledged to pay for the loopogram and it was done on 2 December 2014 with the hope that the child could be operated on soon after but the donor's wish of giving Nkosilamandla an early Christmas present were foiled.
Authorities at Mpilo Central Hospital told them that they could only carry out the operation on 20 January 2015 and they waited patiently but the long wait proved to be in vain as the operation was postponed again to March.
"I came to Bulawayo on the said date and I was referred to the next day where I was told that they still could not perform the operation and they said I must return in March," she said.
Contacted for comment Dr Wedu Ndebele, an official from the hospital said he was not in a position to comment on the issue.
A dejected Ms Moyo said she was now losing hope on her situation as she had spent more than a year trying to change the life of her child but due to financial constraints she had not been able to do much.
She said the hospital authorities said they had a waiting list and would only be free to accommodate her in March.
"They said I must come in March as they have a waiting list and maybe they will then operate on my son. As for now I am now returning to the village and I will be back in March," she said.
More than one year after he was scheduled to be operated on, baby Nkosilamandla still moves around with his intestine peeping through his stomach.
The sad part is that Nkosilamandla does not have a stoma bag which is supposed to carry all the waste.
"I use old rags to hold the waste that I tie on his waist but sometimes he bleeds from the opening and it is very uncomfortable for him," said Ms Moyo.
According to online research, a person like Nkosilamandla will need to wear a bag over the colostomy to collect stool as there is no way to control the bowel motions.
Wind will also be collected in the bag but the bag will have a filter that allows this wind to be passed without allowing odour to escape.
The bag will be closed across the bottom and will need to be changed after each bowel motion.
The story of baby Nkosilamandla is just one of the many cases of patients that are failing to access health care in the country's central hospitals due to either lack of commitment of the officials or problems related to lack of resources.
Hospitals are lamenting over low fiscal allocation and most of them are ill equipped to carry out some procedures.
Two weeks ago Mpilo Central Hospital suspended all surgical procedures owing to a critical shortage of oxygen kits.
This is not the first time the hospital has suspended surgical operations.
It did so in May last year after a critical shortage of drugs and operating consumables - leaving scores of patients stranded.
Source - sundaynews
