Supplied
A female police officer and a civilian woman went the extra mile to help a pregnant woman deliver her baby inside a Gqeberha police station.
SAPS spokesperson, Colonel Priscilla Naidu, said the 25-year-old woman arrived at SAPS New Brighton at around 10:30 on Friday night and asked the members to urgently call an ambulance as she was in “advanced labour.”
She said the Community Service Centre Commander, Sergeant Khayakazi Jodwana, contacted the ambulance service, however as time lapsed, the woman indicated that she was about to deliver the baby.
She said Sergeant Jodwana, and the woman, who was stranded in Gqeberha as she had no money to go to Plettenberg Bay, had acted fast to assist the mother who gave birth to a boy at around 02:00 on Saturday morning.
“As it was load shedding at the time, Sergeant Jodwana and other colleagues at the station had to run to the nearest hospital, which was a TB hospital, to get assistance for the mother.”
Naidu said when they could not be helped they ran back and dispatched a police vehicle, which had just returned from patrol to another hospital to accompany an ambulance back to New Brighton police station to assist the mother.
“The umbilical cord was then cut and the mother and baby were taken to hospital for further treatment and care.”
Naidu said SAPS members later collected money to assist the stranded woman to get to Plettenberg Bay. She had been dropped off in New Brighton from Mdantsane in East London and decided to go to the police station for her own safety.
Acting District Commissioner, Brigadier Ronald Koll commended the members for their actions in ensuring the safe birth of the child.
“It is not every day that our police officers are faced with such situations however given the circumstances, they ensured a safe birth and managed to calm the frantic and frightened mother. The goodwill displayed by the members towards the civilian woman is commendable,” Brigadier Koll added.
