Vuwani woman loses baby after giving birth in front of clinic gates

A Limpopo woman lost her newborn baby after she delivered the infant outside the entrance of her local clinic on Wednesday morning, the provincial health department said.

Department spokesperson Neil Shikwambana said the incident happened around 3am at the Tshino Clinic in Vuwani.

Asked whether the clinic was open 24 hours a day, Shikwambana said it worked on a "call-out basis" in the evening.

"If a patient arrives after normal operational hours, there are standby nurses who would be called by security to assist," Shikwambana said.

It was not immediately clear how the woman had ended up giving birth outside the clinic premises. 

Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba has launched an investigation.

"The nature of this allegation is depressing and the department will leave no stone unturned in finding out exactly what happened," she said in a statement.