Families of women who died giving birth in Munster hospitals waiting for review outcomes

Geraldine Yankeu, 31, died in August 2021 at Cork University Maternity Hospital and Tatenda Mukwata died at University Hospital Kerry on April 21 this year

Geraldine Yankeu, a Cameroonian woman who died after the stillbirth of her daughter in August 2021. Picture: Forevermissed.com

Reviews into the deaths of two women after giving birth in Munster hospitals are continuing.

Cameroon native Geraldine Yankeu, 31, died on August 2, 2021, at Cork University Maternity Hospital, just days after her daughter Mary was stillborn.

Zimbabwean woman Tatenda Mukwata died at University Hospital Kerry on April 21 after giving birth to a healthy daughter. Ms Mukwata was a resident at the Atlantic Lodge direct provision centre in Kenmare and had been granted permission to stay in Ireland shortly before she died.

Both women’s families are continuing to wait for the outcome of reviews into their deaths.

The reviews are being undertaken for the South/Southwest Hospital Group, of which both hospitals are members.

A spokesman for the group said University Hospital Kerry and Cork University Maternity Hospital do not comment on individual cases.

But he said in keeping with HSE protocols, all maternal deaths are reviewed by the hospitals. He added: “This process is ongoing.” 

Tatenda Mukwata died on April 21 this year at University Hospital Kerry, after giving birth to a healthy baby girl.

A preliminary inquest hearing into the death of Ms Yankeu took place in Cork in October, with the inquest expected to get under way next year.

At the preliminary hearing, the Coroners Court was told an internal and an external review of Ms Yankeu’s death were conducted. An order was made at the hearing to make all medical reports available to the legal representatives of the bereaved family, including the post-mortem reports and both the internal and external review reports.

The inquest into Ms Mukwata’s death has not yet opened.

Under the Coroners Act 2019, an inquest is held into all maternal and late maternal deaths.

Ms Yankeu had been living in Cork with her partner and young son, and she had worked at a call centre.

Ms Mukwata had been working in Kerry in a nursing home and had planned further studies here.

During her funeral Mass in Kenmare, she was described by Fr George Hayes as a “vibrant and caring mother, a loving daughter, a dear friend” who had made many friends while living in the Kerry town.

He said she had been planning to do a course in nursing, adding caring for others was part of her personality.