About a week after Mongiwethu Mathe (27) was discharged
from Mpilo Central Hospital in December 2019, she was horrified to see
excrement coming out of her privates. Yes! Human waste coming out through her
sexual organ, not from its usual orifice.
Her heart pounding in her chest and panic coursing through
her system, she rushed to a clinic in Emakhandeni suburb where she lives. For
her, the look on the nurse’s face confirmed the worst.
She was dying. She was referred to Mpilo Central Hospital
as an emergency case.
“My mind in a spin, I decided to first go to a private
doctor. The doctor removed more human waste from my privates. He said during a
caesarean operation when I was giving birth, the doctor mistakenly cut my
rectum and left a hole that now connected it to my vagina,” she said in a
quavering voice, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She said a doctor at Mpilo did not mince his words. “He
said the person who operated on me was careless and cut my rectum more than
what he was supposed to. He said emergency corrective surgery was needed. Now I
poo through a colostomy bag,” she told B- Metro.
Mongi, who is studying towards a Diploma in Education with
United College of Education (UCE), needed to go for attachment.
“I had to seek medical help from a private doctor who is a
friend to my husband because I needed to go for attachments. From December 2019
the doctor tried to stitch the “intestine”, he finally managed to stitch it in
July 2020. The doctor mounted a colostomy bag,” she said.
But the problem was not solved!
“Some of the human excrement discharged through the
colostomy bag while some came through my sexual organ. I then returned to the
doctor and he said he could have mistakenly missed another hole in the rectum
so he stitched me for the second time in October 2020 and said after three
months (February 2021) I would be able to relieve myself in a normal way. After
that I went to the loo, but the situation had not changed,” Mongi said.
“I went to Mpilo again for the operation in May this year.
I was operated on. Sadly when I went for a review I was told the doctor is at
theatre since then I have not been attended to. A doctor at the hospital told
me to contact doctors from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who usually
come to Zimbabwe to offer their services for free. He said they could repair my
rectum. I phoned them and they told me that they will come when Corona cases
have subsided,” she said.
She said she tried to get redress from Mpilo Central
Hospital but has been shuffled from one office to another, to no avail.
“I tried to engage them, but they promised to attend to my
problem. Sadly they have been referring me from one office to another. And they
are demanding money for the operation. They have been threatening to unleash
debt collectors to collect money on their behalf,” she said.
She added: “They are demanding $14 099-87. I cannot raise
it. I wonder why they are demanding money when they ruined my life.”
The despair in Mongi’s eyes is palpable as she explains how
the problem affects her marital life and how it forced her to stop
breastfeeding her baby.
“I feel I’m no longer woman enough to my husband because
it’s very painful to use these bags while you are a married person. The problem
now is that I do not feel pressure to relieve myself, I see human waste in the
bag, usually it spills from the colostomy bag,” she said.
She uses five colostomy bags a week, but when it’s cold she
uses seven bags. “My husband and my father help by buying the bags for me. The
bags cost US$5 each,” she said.
Mpilo Central Hospital clinical director and chief
executive officer Professor Solwayo Ngwenya said: “This is a natural
consequence that could be caused by prolonged labour or big baby. That is a
difficult situation but the hospital will try and help her in repairing her
rectum.”
He added: “I ‘m aware of her predicament. She must talk to
accounts department about her bill.” B Metro
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