Pregnant woman who died at Westbury Clinic suffered shortness of breath

Miriam Singh died at the health facility on Sunday, shortly after arriving to give birth.

The Community of Westbury gathered outside the Westbury Primary Healthcare clinic on 31 December 2024 in protest of the death of Miriam Singh, who had gone to the clinic on Sunday to give birth. The circumstances around her death remain unknown. Picture: Jabulile Mbatha/EWN

JOHANNESBURG - Preliminary reports suggest a pregnant woman who died at the Westbury Clinic in Johannesburg suffered shortness of breath.

Miriam Singh died at the health facility on Sunday, shortly after arriving to give birth.

On Tuesday, the community staged a protest outside the clinic in support of Singh's family, who are desperately seeking answers.

The city's finance MMC, Margaret Arnolds, engaged the family on behalf of the health MEC and outlined the preliminary findings.

"What I gather from what she is saying, or what the midwife is saying, is that she came walking in, she was fine. She then went into labour, 3cm, she complained about the pain, the pain was severe. We don’t know how big baby was, then they gave her something to ease the pain. Then she had an anxiety attack, that’s what she said, then they lost her."

The MMC said that this was not the final report as investigations were still ongoing.