Six midwives are facing trial in Senegal after a pregnant woman, Astou Sokhna, died in a public hospital.
The lawyer of the deceased said Astou Sokhna, in her thirties, waited for a Caesarean section for hours in vain and her tragic death has stunned the country.
Four of the suspects were imprisoned in the northern city of Louga while the other two were provisionally released.
While talking to AFP, Abou Abdou Daff said the latter two had been “employed for more than four years as trainees with a modest remuneration and they were asked for results” in terms of the quality of care provided.
The State responded to the negligence by dismissing the Director of the hospital, which was disclosed at the end of a Council of Ministers. Senegalese Health Minister, Abdoulaye Diouf Sall, recently acknowledged that the death of Astou Sokhna could have been avoided with more vigilance.
The circumstances surrounding Sokhna’s death as reported by the press have triggered protests on social media against the inadequacies of the public health system in Senegal. The staff of the hospital reportedly declined her request, argued that her operation was not scheduled and threatened to evict her if she insisted.
In a reaction to the prosecution of the midwives, the Alliance of Autonomous Health Unions (ASAS) announced in a statement that it had commenced a 72-hour strike in “support of the comrades of Louga” prosecuted by the courts.
The ASAS had said that the government has “not waited for the conclusions of the judicial inquiry to condemn the brave workers before deliberately throwing them in front of the media lynch mob (…) to try to hide in vain the flaws of the system which it is the guarantor.”
According to ASAS, the strike is also aimed at protesting against the failure of the government to honour agreements for better remuneration for health workers.
