Tanzanian woman wins landmark case over childbirth operation
By Kizito Makoye
April 17, 2015 12:26 PM
Mwamini Adam and her husband filed a lawsuit at the high court in western Tabora region against Urambo District Council's hospital four years ago, demanding 500 million Tanzanian Shillings ($265,000) for physical and emotional distress.
Adam, 37, accused Jacob Kamanda, a gynaecologist and obstetrician at the district hospital, of professional negligence and misconduct after he left a piece of cloth in her stomach after performing a caesarean section operation.
She told the court her condition deteriorated within days of the operation on January 6, 2011, in which her baby survived.
"I was very ill and constantly discharging pus."
She said the defective operation meant she can no longer give birth because doctors performing a life-saving corrective operation decided to remove her uterus.
Pregnancy and childbirth are among the biggest dangers faced by
rural women in Tanzania due to a shortage of qualified doctors and lack
of quality health care and maternity services.
Tanzania is one of a list of African nations that have the
world's highest rates of maternal mortality. For ev
ery 100,000 live
births, 454 women die of childbirth-related complications, according to
UNICEF data.
Delivering the verdict this week, High Court Judge Amir Mruma said the
court was convinced Adam suffered significantly due to negligence by one
of the hospital's doctors and ordered hospital owner, Urambo District
Council, to pay compensation.
Lawyers for Adam said this was the first time in Tanzania
that a court had ruled in favor of a woman whose life was put in danger
by defective surgery related to childbirth.
The judge ruled the council pay 25 million Tanzanian
Shillings with accumulated interest to Adam and her husband and also
cover the costs of the law suit.
($1 = 1,885.0000 Tanzanian shillings)
(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)
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