The suspects allegedly used the window to sneak into the
maternity home where three pregnant women were sleeping.
The victims had only locked the doors and left the windows
open. The other woman who was in the room managed to escape.
Matabeleland South acting provincial police spokesperson,
Assistant Inspector Thabani Mkhwananzi confirmed the incident. He said
investigations were still underway.
“I can confirm that we recorded a rape case which occurred
in Maphisa District Hospital where rapists unlawfully entered a room where
three pregnant women who were waiting for their delivery day were sleeping and
raped two women and the other one managed to escape. We have not yet made an
arrest connected to that case and investigations are still underway,” he said.
Women who are at least eight months pregnant in rural areas
move into waiting homes in hospitals as they await delivery. This is meant to
ensure timely medical care as transportion might be an issue on the day of
delivery from some remote areas.
Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director Dr Rudo
Chikodzore, without giving figures, said cases of women being raped at
provincial hospital maternity homes have been escalating during the past few
months with cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) also escalating in growth
points.
“The raping of women has been an issue at the growth point
and around the district so there has been a multi-sectoral response to GBV and
sexual assault involving the police and all stakeholders in the Rural District
Council.
Police are doing patrols around the growth point. We have
also educated the community to avoid travelling at night to avoid being mugged
or raped,” she said.
Dr Chikodzore said they were planning on repairing
vandalised perimeter fences and put on burglar bars on windows and screen doors
to tighten security at the hospital.
“We have intensified patrols by our guards and we plan to
repair the vandalised perimeter fence, erect burglar bars, and screen doors in
all departments. The ministry has also installed a huge solar plant so we need
to erect street lights within the institution as well,” she said.
Maphisa Rural District Council (RDC) chief executive
officer Mr Elvis Sibanda said they have contacted the Ministry of Health and
Child Care and police to tighten security at hospitals. Sunday News
0 comments:
Post a Comment