By Tsitsi Matope
MASERU — Baby Thatohatsi Mahasa who was abandoned by her mother at Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital because of her poor health died on Monday morning.
The hospital spokesperson Limpho Seeiso yesterday said baby Thatohatsi died while on her way to a hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
She was born with a congestive heart disease on June 9.
“It was traumatic for all of us here because she had become family and we had all come to love her.
“The post-natal intensive care unit staff named her Thatohatsi, which was the name on her birth certificate and passport,” Seeiso said.
She said her family was informed about her passing and her mother and some family members came to collect the body for burial on Tuesday.
The late baby Thato — as she was passionately known by the hospital staff –– was admitted in the post-natal ward on June 15, six days after her birth prematurely at 28 weeks and weighing only 1.6 kilograms.
After the child’s mother was informed the baby needed further treatment in South Africa, she left the hospital sometime in September under the pretext that she was going to apply for the baby’s birth certificate and passport.
However, she did not return or make efforts to secure the travel documents.
The late baby’s condition deteriorated weeks after her mother disappeared and was on October 4, transferred from the postnatal ward to the intensive care unit.
The baby only managed to get travel documents over a week ago after her maternal uncle stepped in.
