RFM ATTENDS TO OVER 100 ABORTION CASES MONTHLY

MANZINI – Every month, nurses at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital attend to over 100 cases of young women who have committed illegal abortions.

The shocking statistics show that many women, especially the youth, continue to practise unsafe sexual intercourse, leading to unwanted pregnancies.
To be specific, the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Benjamin Simelane, stated that each month, the hospital received about 103 patients who had allegedly committed abortions and had complications. Simelane said this after he was informed that this publication had uncovered several hotspots within the city where abortion pills and similar related services were offered.

Pills

After using the pills, most women suffer serious complications and are compelled to visit health centres to get medical attention.
Simelane confirmed that some of these women found their way to the RFM.

“We are receiving high numbers (of such incidents) on a monthly basis and it is quite shocking. Every health centre has a policy to save the lives of patients, therefore, such cases are always attended to by our medical doctors and nurses,” Simelane said.

The CEO, when asked if the hospital engaged the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) in such cases, said some patients were actually brought in by the police, who further charged them with abortion.

“Most patients are brought in by the police after serious complications while some come to the hospital on their own accord,” Simelane said.
Meanwhile, some other health centres have been found to be issuing out and selling abortion pills to the public.
These pills are normally used to induce labour on pregnant women.

The employees involved in such activities get the pills from the pharmacy and sell them to individuals and other illegal centres which assist women with abortion. Simelane, however, said he had no information on whether his hospital staff was also involved in the illegal activity.
Some nurses at RFM, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that they dealt with a large number of young women who come to the facility after complications from illegal abortions.

“One woman almost lost her life right here at the hospital. She had bled profusely and had been to the facility several times after committing illegal abortions,” a nurse said.
Meanwhile, the Manzini Magistrates Court has also found itself quite busy dealing with cases of women who have committed abortion.  It was gathered that the court receives no less than 10 cases of such crime in a month.

Even though this figure seems quite less than the number of women who visit health facilities after complications from illegal abortions, some of them manage to get away with the crime one way or another.

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