Thursday, 27 August 2009
DISGUISED as a single woman who was four weeks pregnant and had just been jilted by her lover over an unwanted pregnancy, I contacted gynaecologist Dr Matti Kimberg who runs a practice in Eros.
After managing to quickly scrap a Tuesday 25 August, 08h45 appointment by literary begging Dr Kimberg who was said to be fully booked until October I to slot me in, I arrived at his offices 15 minutes late and had to wait for two hours.
After a boring two hour wait my name was called in to see the doctor.
Once in his office, I was told to sit down and wait for the busy and highly sort out gynaecologist.
After some minutes, Dr Kimberg came in and I told him my “dilemma”.
He then asked what my age was, whether I have had any children before, had been tested for HIV and whether I was certain I wanted to terminate the pregnancy.
After answering and assuring him that I was certain of getting rid of the pregnancy I was told to strip to the bone and put on a peach/orange gown and lie on the examining bed.
Dr Kimberg examined my stomach, while I silently prayed that my big tummy would fool him into believing that, indeed, there was a life growing inside me.
For the first time, I was grateful to have a sagging tummy since Dr Kimberg presumed I was pregnant.
He asked me to open my legs wide and like a little girl, I shyly obliged when he assured me there was nothing to worry about.
Dr Kimberg inserted four Cytotec tablets into my vagina making sure they were deposited near the cervix and he gave me another one with instructions of putting it under my tongue and swallow the spit only.
After that, he wrote me a prescription for buying pain killers to ease the pain caused by the side effects of the drug during the abortion process.
The side effects, I was warned, included stomach cramps, diarrhoea and nausea.
True to his word two hours later I was down with diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
The doctor had instructed me to return to the surgery today at 13h00 for a check up.
“You should not worry. From now on, the pregnancy will be terminated like a bad period. You are to take these four other tablets at two hour intervals by putting them under your tongue and swallowing the spit,” he said.
Despite not being pregnant, the abortion process kicked in almost four hours later when I started bleeding.
However, when I bought and took the Synap Forte pain killers Dr Kimberg had prescribed, I felt better much to my relief for the pain had become excruciating.
A week before visiting Dr Kimberg, I had another near-brush with Dr Kenny Abrahams of Khomasdal.
Dr. Abrahams is also the employer of the street drug kingpin only known as Lanie.
I went to see Dr Abrahams who charges N$1,510 for an abortion at his surgery after securing a 17h00 appointment. I was also posing as a four-week pregnant student.
Once at the surgery, the secretary instructed me to fill out a form with my personal details and what I was suffering from.
After filling the form stating that I had severe stomach problems, the secretary asked me, without any hesitation, how far I was with my pregnancy.
Trying to suppress my surprise at being asked such a personal question on something illegal, I told her I was four weeks pregnant.
She told me to sit down and wait for the doctor. After an excruciating two-hour wait, I was called into a room that turned out to be an administrative office where with another lady who had also come for an abortion, we were instructed to pay the N$1,510 each for the abortion.
When I told the secretary that I did not have the required N$1,510, I was then told to leave and come back when I had the full amount.
However, before I left I quickly asked the other lady who also wanted to abort why she was doing it.
“My boyfriend is a married man and I can’t keep the baby,” she said.
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