In pain and dizziness, Astou Sokhna, nine months pregnant, went to the regional hospital in Louga, a small town 200 kilometers north of Dakar, Senegal. Maimouna Ba, her mother, who accompanied her, recounts how her daughter called the nursing staff in vain to be taken care of. “My anger is addressed to the nursing staff of the hospital because they have been negligent. They have no consideration for the human being”, she denounces.
“Astou had even threatened them: ‘You neglect me, when I call you you don’t answer me. When I recover, I will report you to the management.’ The midwives replied: ‘It’s because that you are suffering that you are delirious. Astou did not know that she was going to die.”
Maimouna Ba, the mother of the deceased young womanat franceinfo
Indeed, after 20 long hours of suffering, the thirties died. His family sued for “neglect”. The hospital staff rejects this thesis and instead points the finger at their precarious working conditions.
But the drama has generated a national mobilization and tongues are starting to loosen up. Badiane Diop, who just lost her baby last month, also recounts her ordeal. She waited more than five hours before midwives took care of her plight. “Like all the others, when it came time to file a complaint, the family objected so I gave up. But deep down inside, I will never forgive them for what they did to me and what they did to me. done to my baby.”
Faced with these cases of recurrent violence, Mamyto Nakamura, member of the collective justice for Astou Sokhna, denounces the “sutura”the culture of “discretion” which prevents women from testifying.
The front page of the Liberation newspaper of this Wednesday April 13, 2022 pic.twitter.com/LH5Ms2zyHq
— Liberation Senegal online (@SenegalLibe10) April 13, 2022
Very quickly, the director of Louga Hospital was dismissed. Six midwives are being prosecuted, four of whom have been placed under a warrant for failure to assist a person in danger. They are to be tried on April 27 before the High Court of Louga. Senegalese Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sall acknowledged on April 14 that Astou Sokhna’s death could have been avoided with more vigilance. Ousmane Dia, director of public establishments in Senegal, assures that measures are being taken by the ministry. “The first point is training for health personnel, it is ethics but also, we are really going to focus on sanctions, to make these people fear bad behavior.”
A new demonstration of support for Astou Sokhna is scheduled for April 23 in Dakar. The Alliance of Autonomous Health Unions (Asas) announced for its part in a press release that it had started a 72-hour strike on Wednesday, in particular in “support for the comrades of Louga” prosecuted by the courts.
#JusticeforAstou A crowd gathered in Louga to demand justice for the pregnant woman who died at the regional hospital due to the negligence of the nursing staff, according to her family. Recurrent gynecological and obstetrical violence according to the demonstrators. #kebetu pic.twitter.com/vrOsLI3f0t
— Théa Ollivier (@OllivierThea) April 15, 2022