Mystery Illness Ends in Tragedy: Nine Month-Old Baby with “Old Face” Dies After Surgery at Sally Mugabe Hospital

Mutasa, Zimbabwe – 31 May 2025

A heartbreaking tragedy has struck the Chinyanga family of Watsomba, Mutasa District, after their nine-month-old baby boy — known for his bizarre, prematurely aged facial features — died just two days after undergoing surgery at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital in Harare.

Baby Japhet Junior Chinyanga, whose condition had puzzled both medical professionals and traditional healers, passed away last Thursday following an operation to correct a diaphragmatic hernia, a rare and life-threatening congenital disorder. He was buried on Sunday in an emotionally charged funeral attended by relatives and villagers gripped by grief and lingering questions.

His father, Japhet Chinyanga, confirmed that although the operation appeared successful at first, the child later died due to internal complications that hospital staff were unable to resolve in time.

“Doctors told me that his lungs were filled with blood, and they were about to drain it when he passed away,” Chinyanga told reporters, his voice breaking.
“I asked them how the blood got there, but they said they did not know either.”

The family had fought for months to understand the child’s deteriorating health after noticing his face taking on an unusually aged appearance — a condition that some community members even attributed to spiritual causes.

“I used to look at my son and wonder where my baby had gone. It was like he was wearing a mask of pain,” said the grieving father.

Doctors at Sally Mugabe Hospital eventually diagnosed the infant with a diaphragmatic hernia, explaining that a portion of his intestines had moved into his chest cavity, crowding his heart and lungs. After weeks on oxygen support and several delays due to financial constraints, surgery was finally performed.

But what was meant to be a turning point for the family turned into their worst nightmare.

According to both parents, doctors acknowledged after the surgery that they had detected fluid in the baby’s lungs, believed to be blood, but were unable to drain it in time to save him.

“I told him to fight,” sobbed the child’s mother, Rutendo Nyamutata-Chinyanga.
“I carried him for nine months and watched him suffer for another nine. Even when people mocked us, I still had hope. Now I am empty.”

Community members, shaken by the boy’s short and painful life, gathered in large numbers in Mutasa for his funeral. Many expressed dismay not only at the outcome but also at the mystery that had shrouded his condition since birth.

The tragic case highlights the challenges many Zimbabwean families face in accessing timely and effective pediatric care — especially when dealing with rare conditions requiring specialist intervention and expensive diagnostics.

As the Chinyanga family mourns their irreplaceable loss, their story has ignited calls for greater transparency and urgency in medical procedures involving children, and for improved government support for families navigating complex health crises.

The Ministry of Health has not yet issued a formal statement on the matter.