Father blasts hospital policy

By Sarafina Sanerivi 23 January 2017, 12:00AM

A puzzled and angry father from the village of Tuana’imato, has turned to the Samoa Observer to voice his disbelief at policies followed in the Maternity Ward at the Moto’otua Hospital.

Mr Haine Sanft is questioning why mothers who just gave birth, should sleep on couches and the floor in a small Recreation Room when there are beds available.

The Recreation Room does not have beds and despite more than 10 unused beds in other rooms of the Ward, the staff are adamant they cannot to be used.

Mr. Sanft’s daughter, who is a new mother, was discharged on Saturday afternoon.

However her newborn son is still under medical care at the hospital so she was asked to move her things to the Recreation Room in the Maternity Ward floor to wait for her son’s discharge.

And that was what angered Mr. Sanft.

“You see, when they asked my daughter to move, we thought she was going to another room where there are beds,” said Mr. Sanft, “bearing in mind, my daughter is a new mother, and she just gave birth. 

“So she went to the Recreation Room and there were two other mothers already using the room. 

“One of them has her baby with her so when my daughter moved in, three mothers and caregivers were then using that small room.

“You see the thing is, in this room, there are no beds. There are only two couches, and the two mothers who were already there, were using the couches to sleep on. But my daughter, she is sleeping on the floor.

“I came and saw this and I just couldn’t believe it.”

And it got worse. 

According to Mr. Sanft, when he saw what the situation was, he went to see if there were beds available in other rooms.

“We’ve counted the beds that are available in the other rooms. There are about fifteen beds available and yet these three mothers are sharing one room with their caregivers in one small room where there are no beds.

“So I asked the nurse if we could use the available beds and she said no.

“She said it’s their policy. 

“This is a ridiculous policy!

“That’s the bad part, there are available beds and these mothers who just gave birth are sleeping on the couches and my daughter is sleeping on the floor.”

Mr. Sanft went on to say that he the offer of money had no effect at all.

“I  offered some money so my daughter and the other mothers could sleep on proper beds, but they refused. You know this could happen to someone else as well and this is very bad.

“I mean what’s the use of having available beds when these poor mothers are forced to sleep and fit in one room altogether with no beds with their relatives who are taking care of them?

“They said they are following their policy and I think this policy is very stupid.

“I thought to myself, why would they let a mother who just gave birth sleep on the floor when are beds available?

“And the thing is the people who are here to look after the mothers and their babies also clean up the room. There are no cleaners to clean this particular room.

“This is a very small room and there are six people here and one baby. I question the policy because my daughter and the other mothers who are sharing this room are being taken care of by these people.”

Mr. Sanft said they haven’t been notified as to when his grandson will be discharged and that is why he is worried.

“We will probably be here for another two days. And I don’t want my daughter to continue sleeping on the floor and also for the other two mothers to continue on with this.

“It is a bad policy.”

Art press time, we were unable to get a comment from the hospital about this policy.

By Sarafina Sanerivi 23 January 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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