Mediclinic says it did not treat mom of 'Thembisa 10' babies, despite claim in text message to children's dad

Mediclinic on Monday night said it had not treated the mother of the “Thembisa 10" babies.

This after the hospital group was named in a Pretoria News article on Monday night, with the father of the children, Teboho Tsotetsi, telling the publication that the mom, Gosiame Sithole, told him that she had given birth at the Mediclinic Medforum Hospital in Pretoria.

According to Tsotetsi, this was after midnight on Tuesday, June 8 — but Sithole told him that visitors were not allowed.

Asked about this on Monday night, Mediclinic told TimesLIVE that it was aware of the publicity around the births of the babies.

“However, we can confirm that none of our facilities were involved in the obstetric care of this patient or her decuplets,” said spokesperson Tertia Kruger.

The Pretoria News story also quotes Tsotetsi as saying Sithole told him that she was moved to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital on Friday, which appears to contradict information from Gauteng health and provincial authorities, who said they could not trace her at any of their public or private facilities.

The health department referred TimesLIVE to the department of social development for comment, with the latter saying there was no update at this stage.

In the Pretoria News article, it was also reported that Tsotetsi had issued a missing person's statement to police on Saturday because he was “concerned about Sithole’s whereabouts and her safety since she told him he was not allowed to see his decuplets due to Covid-19 regulations”.

This contradicts reports from the social development department on Friday night that there was no missing person's case, as had been reported by News24.

UPDATE JUNE 18: Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu said on Friday, June 18, that she is waiting for consolidated information before “going public” on the saga. Zulu told TimesLIVE she held a meeting with the provincial department of social development and the health department and “we have a few loose ends that needed to be sorted out” before briefing the public about what really happened. Both the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the provincial health department have said they are unable to verify the births of the decuplets.

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