We will call our patient Katundu* (for the purposes of patient confidentiality). She is 18 years and lies at the University Teaching Hospital UTH), Lusaka, recovering two days after undergoing fistula repair. She narrates her story to this reporter. “When I started experiencing labour pains, I went to Kaphiri Health Centre but the labour was prolonged for two days. The nurses could not deal with my situation and therefore referred me to Kabwe General Hospital, where they took me straight for an operation. However, the baby had already died. After two days of admission, I noticed urine just flowing uncontrollably. The nurses could not understand what was happening and tried to sort the problem for 11 days without any headway. I was referred to UTH but since the operation wound was still fresh, I was given painkillers and told to go clean it till the next appointment. On 7th April, I went back for check up and was given 14th May as the date to check whether the wound had healed to procee...