Police and the Ministry of Health are investigating circumstances under which a 30-year-old pregnant woman died at Ruhengeri Hospital.

Olive Mushimiyimana, 30, died almost a week after she was referred from Bigogwe Health Centre in Nyabihu District, amid concerns that she could not have a normal delivery.

Family members of the deceased reported the case to Police after they were informed about the death of the mother on Saturday. The deceased was a resident of Ryinyo Cell, Kintobo Sector in Nyabihu District.

Relatives of the deceased accuse the hospital medics of failure to give enough attention and ignoring to check the clinical details of the mother.

"We were referred to Ruhengeri Hospital after the health centre realised they had no capacity to manage her condition since it had deviated from the normal… the mother received some medicine but later it emerged that it would be a stillbirth,” said Dative Ahobantegeye, mother  to the deceased.

Dieudonné Nizeyimana, one of the deceased’s relatives, said they want an investigation because the family believes it was a case of negligence.

"We told the doctors that it would be a stillbirth and appealed to them to save the mother’s life but they told us they knew what they were doing and that the medicine they had prescribed would help. The woman became weaker and eventually passed on,” Nizeyimana said.

 "Doctors were complacent in monitoring her after they administerded the drugs. I informed the doctor on duty that the mother’s womb was swelling but nothing was done, apart from assuring us   that she would be fine. ”

Théoneste Dukuzumuremyi, the widower said it was sad to lose his wife and baby at a hospital where they expected to receive health care.

He said each time they knocked at doctors’ doors to inform them that the health condition of the woman was deteriorating, they received no response.

"We always come to hospital to seek medical attention but it is unfortunate that doctors never followed up the case well and were not willing to cooperate with us on the status of our patient,” Dukuzumuremyi said.

Police speak out

Superintendent Christopher Semuhungu, the Northern Province regional police spokesperson, said investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances that led to the death of the mother.

"We are carrying out investigations to find out the cause of death. Our investigations will focus on why doctors didn’t save the mother if the stillborn infant had died earlier,” Semuhungu said.

This paper couldn’t reach Ruhengeri Hospital officials for comment but Police quoted medics saying they did their best to save lives in vain.

Nathan Mugume, the head of the communication division at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, said the Ministry of Health had appointed a team of investigators to review the case. He said, however, that no suspect was identified yet.

Mugume extended condolences to the bereaved family  on behalf of the ministry, adding that normal antenatal process starts early when a mother is pregnant and urged pregnant mothers to always go for antenatal care.

Ruhengeri Hospital has previously been criticised for poor patient care with some people saying it puts lives of patients at risk.

Last year, doctors from   University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) removed a piece of a broken needle that had been left inside a patient’s womb during an operation at Ruhengeri Hospital.

Delphine Nyiransabimana had endured the pain for seven months until she raised the issue to visiting MPs who ordered for an operation to be carried out on her.