Shakaskraal clinic sister’s timely diagnoses saves miracle baby

KZN health MEC Sibusiso Dhlomo made a special visit to Shakaskraal Clinic last Thursday to thank one of the nurses whose keen ear had picked up a rare life-threatening problem in an unborn baby.

Sr Pimrose Goge said Thandazile Ntetha had come to the clinic when she was 28 weeks pregnant for a routine check-up.

Shakaskraal Clinic Sister Pimrose Goge.

“I listened to the baby’s heart using the fetoscope and that is when I realised something was wrong,” she said.

The heartbeat was irregular and Ntetha was referred to Stanger Hospital where an the ultrasound confirmed that what Goge heard was indeed a problem.

This was not just any problem but an extremely rare foetal cardiac condition, so rare that there have been only 22 other cases reported worldwide.

The condition is seen in only one in 300 000 pregnancies.

Baby Smangaliso had a vascular malformation in the outer chamber of the heart that was causing fluid to leak into the space around the heart. The fluid was compressing the heart and lungs, which was affecting the foetus’ ability of the heart muscle to shorten and generate force.

This could have led to heart failure and an intra-uterine foetal death.

The operation to extract fluid from baby Smangaliso’s heart cavity was performed while in his mother’s womb.

This delicate procedure is called pericardiocentesis which is an invasive procedure in which a needle and a tube is used to remove fluid from the sac around the heart.

“If it was not for her meticulous examination, the groundbreaking operation performed at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital by Dr Ismail Bhorat, the Head of the Foetal Surgical Unit, could not have been performed,” said MEC Dhlomo.

The boy was born by Caesarean section at Inkosi Albert Luthuli on November 2, weigh ing 2.8kg.

Dhlomo asked Sr Goge what her future career dreams were to which she responded that her greatest ambition was to be a doctor, to which MEC Dhlomo replied: “The Department will do all it can to provide support that will make Sr Goge actualize her dream to be a doctor.

Such committed health professionals require and deserve our full support.”

Sr Goge has a Bachelor of Nursing (B Cur) from the University of KZN which she completed in 2000 and a B Tech in Nursing in which she specialized in Primary Health care, which she completed in 2012 at Durban University of Technology. She has worked various hospitals and at Shakaskraal clinic for the past six years.

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