Zimbabwe conducted its first caesarean section on a Covid-19 pregnant woman at Gweru Provincial Hospital yesterday.
With immune compromised status and physiological adaptive changes during pregnancy, pregnant women could be more susceptible to COVID-19 infection than the general population.
In a memo to Vice chancellor of the Midlands State University (MSU), Executive Dean in the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Reginald Matchaba Hove said the operation was conducted under strict infection prevention and control measures.
“This is to inform you that with the authorization of the Medical Superintendent of Gweru
Provincial Hospital, Dr Fabian Mashingaidze, the first ever Caesarian section on a COVID-19
pregnant woman in Zimbabwe was successfully conducted today at Gweru Provincial Hospital
under strict infection prevention and control measures” said Dr. Hove
The operation Dr. Hove said was successfully conducted by a team from the Midlands State University.
“The obstetrician who carried out the successful operation was Dr Johannes Mukwembi of the MSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The attending anaesthetists were Dr Tafadzwa Mutukwa and Dr Prince Tineyi Murambi of the MSU Department of Anaesthesia. Both the mother and baby are well and will spend the next three days in an isolation room adjacent to the operating theatre.”
Dr. Hove said the patient is one of the four COVID-19 citizens in the Midlands Province who was in quarantine after returning to Zimbabwe.
