Mom Given Wrong Baby to Bury After Reported Stillbirth at Sebokeng Hospital, Raising Questions if Baby Is Dead

• Sebokeng Hospital is in hot water after giving a young grieving mother the wrong body to bury
• Ntsebeng Motaung was told that she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl but was given the body of a baby boy to bury
• Sebokeng Hospital cant find Nstebeng's daughter's body, making the family question if the baby is dead

SEBOKENG - A 29-year-old woman, Ntsebeng Motaung, is reeling after Sebokeng Hospital gave her a body of a baby boy to bury after she was told she had given birth to a stillborn baby girl.

The act of negligence on the part of the hospital has left the family with many questions, most importantly; Did the grieving mother's baby girl really die during childbirth?

Tlalane Motaung, sister to Ntsebeng, detailed the days leading up to the shocking discovery.

Woman gives birth to stillborn baby at Sebokeng hospital

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Speaking to TimeLIVE, Tlalane said she accompanied her sister to Sebokeng Hospital on April 28. The pair arrived at the hospital at 3 am.

Thirteen minutes later, Tlalane revealed the devastating news from Ntsebeng that she had given birth to a stillborn.

Tlalane said her sister told her that she had given birth to a girl, but the nurse told her that the baby had died. The nurse allegedly showed Ntsebeng the baby and she confirmed that it was a girl.

Grieving mother asks sister to collect body at Sebokeng Hospital morgue

Tlalane then received another message from her sister asking her to fetch the body on the nurse's instructions. No mortuary was open then, and Tlalane told Ntsebeng to inform the nurse that they would make arrangements in the morning.

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The following day was a Saturday, and after being discharged, Tlalane and Ntsebeng went to an undertaker. The sisters were told the baby's body could only be collected on Tuesday, 2 May, because government mortuaries don't open on weekends.

When Tuesday rolled around, Ntsebeng and her mother went to the hospital mortuary and the baby's body was released to them. The body was already wrapped but had documentation and tags indicating it belonged to the grieving mother.

Sebokeng family discovers hospital gave them body of wrong baby

The family had planned to hold a funeral for the baby the next day, on Wednesday, 3 May, but when they unwrapped the body to bathe it as part of a pre-burial traditional ritual, they made the shocking discovery.

Sebokeng Hospital had given them the body of a baby boy instead of the girl Ntsebeng gave birth to.

The family scrambled for answers, which the hospital struggled to provide. The staff told the family they followed the protocol and that all documentation was in order.

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Sebokeng Hospital cannot find stillborn baby girl's body

The family went to the hospital mortuary, but the body of Ntsebeng's baby girl was not there. They were told there were no stillborn babies in the morgue.

Even more puzzling was that there was only one birth on record on 28 April, which was Ntsebeng's.

Grieving family take action against Sebokeng Hospital and Gauteng Department of Health

The grieving family want answers and has opened a case of infringement of the Birth and Death Registration Act at the Sebokeng police station.

Newzroom Afrika reported that the family is considering suing the Gauteng Department of Health for the traumatic ordeal.

While the family questions what happened to Ntsebeng's baby's body, they can't help but wonder if the baby is really dead.

South Africans suspect foul play in Sebokeng newborn body swop incident

Below are some reactions:

Gillian Groenewald speculated:

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"Human trafficking."

Mpho Malope said:

"What is this now? They know what they've done with her child."

Shirley Mahlako Leshika claimed:

"They exchanged her baby and sold her living child."

Sue Petzer added:

"How terrible! I can't imagine her mind right now, is her child out there."

Gugulethu Nkosazana Mthembu commented:

"Chances are her baby is alive and has been given to someone else."

Rethabile Ramahloko stated:

"Syndicate things going on here this might have been planned by many evil monsters who live amongst us."

Baragwanath Hospital security guard’s actions reunite babies with real mums after negligent discharge mistake

In another story, Briefly News reported that a quick-thinking security official at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital had rectified a grievous mistake made by nursing staff.

A newborn baby was mistakenly discharged with the family, but when the security officer realised that the baby's tag name didn't match the mother, he quickly intervened.

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When the officer realised the mistake, he alerted the nursing staff and an investigation was conducted.

Source: Briefly News