ON Saturday the Thwala family buried their baby who died because of alleged negligence by striking nurses.

Busi Thwala, 28, said she went to Germiston Hospital to give birth but left traumatised after her baby died because nurses refused to help her.

"I arrived at 5.30pm on Tuesday and I told them that my baby was due, but the nurse told me that I could do whatever I liked because other people were also waiting.

"They were busy singing while my baby was dying," she said.

She said she was finally admitted at midnight.

Thwala said that when the doctor arrived at 2am the nurse told him she had high blood pressure, which Thwala denied.

"The doctor took me for a sonar, shook his head and said the baby's heart had stopped. I cried."

She said she was taken to a separate room and left alone.

"I cried the whole night alone and the baby was starting to come up in my stomach."

Thwala said nurses working the morning shift came and checked her file and left her unattended.

She said her mother came to visit and was allowed in at 10am.

Her mother, Virginia Thwala, said: "My friend and I started to help Busi to push the baby down and out.

"I called a nurse and said the head was out, but she told me she was busy."

She said when the nurses came they chased her out of the room.

Thwala said a nurse removed the placenta and cleaned her.

"What hurts me is that when they pulled the baby out they used force and the head was separated into two parts," she cried.

Her mother said she returned to the hospital on Thursday with a family undertaker to collect the baby for burial.

"I found the baby in the sink in the ward next to another body. It was starting to rot.

The skin had changed colour and it was dry.

"It was the first time I saw something like that," she sobbed.