KZN woman’s agony as tummy keeps expanding
A Dambuza mother has endured years of pain and misery as her tummy keeps swelling after a series of botched surgeries which she says has made her the ‘laughing stock’ of her community.
Bawinile Malevu (47) said after she had an umbilical hernia repair at Edendale Hospital but since then her stomach grows continuously making her look strange.
It is painful and she can barely walk, Public Eye reports.
“I suffered unbearable pain for five years after having a c-section and eventually in 2016 had an operation to reposition my intestines. However, the pains continued and in 2018 doctors discovered that my internal lining had ruptured and my intestines had been exposed – the only thing keeping them in, was the outside skin. I needed another operation,” said Malevu.
But this operation only created further complications after doctors inserted an aid to help keep the intestines in place.
“They eventually called me back into the theatre where they inserted another lining to keep the organs in place and then discharged me without any pain medication, even though I was in terrible agony,” says Malevu.
She has to not only live with the constant agony but since the operation, her tummy keeps swelling.
“People laugh at me saying that I am elderly and pregnant. I cannot sleep at night. I am living in a nightmare,” she said.
KZN Health said the matter was concerning and would intervene to provide the ailing woman with assistance.
Health spokesperson, Noluthando Nkosi, said: “Although the department is prohibited by law from discussing confidential patient clinical information, the department is nevertheless extremely concerned by this matter, and is investigating various ways to provide further help to this patient.”
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