Newborn baby dies after strike over wages leaves hospital devoid of staff

A NEWBORN baby died yesterday as he was being rushed from a rural government clinic shut down by South Africa's civil service strike, an example of the costs of a strike that has hit hospitals, schools and courts across the country.

On the second day of the strike, Mpho Gabane, health department spokesman in the eastern province of Mpumalanga, said the baby's mother had gone to the clinic in labour and experiencing complications, and found no nurses or doctors. The woman in her 20s was being taken by ambulance to another clinic, but gave birth on the way. Gabane blamed the baby's death on the strike. "We say outright this is related to the strike because had she been attended to earlier the child could have been saved," Gabane said.

The Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, called for the government and workers to come together to end the strike quickly, saying people were suffering. He also called for hospital staff to return to work.