Tema Metropolis records 13 maternal mortalities in first quarter

Tema, April 22, GNA - Thirteen maternal mortalities were recorded at public and private health facilities in the Tema Metropolis during the first quarter of the year.

The figure is almost twice of that recorded during the first quarter of last year which was seven.

Thirty-two maternal mortalities were also recorded by the Tema Health Directorate in 2009, Mrs Judith Amo-Mensah, Public Health Nurse in-charge of Reproductive and Child-health Services at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, told the GNA on Thursday.

Mrs Amo-Mensah said during the first quarter of the year 12 deaths were recorded at the Tema General Hospital while one occurred at a private health facility at Sakumono.

She said eight of the 13 were aged between 20 and 34 years, while five were 35 years and above.

Mrs Amo-Mensah said out of the seven maternal mortalities documented for the first quarter of 2009, one was aged between 15 and 19, four belonging to the 20 to 34 age group while two were aged 35 and above.

She explained that most of the mortalities were recorded at the Tema General Hospital due to its status as a referral hospital.

Mrs Amo-Mensah said most of the pregnant women reported late to the facility, while some private clinics also referred complicated cases to the hospital when the situation worsened.

Enumerating some of the causes of the mortalities, she said Post Partum Hemorrhage (PPH), which is the loss of blood through excessive bleeding after delivery, accounted for most of the mortalities.

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) and malaria were other causes of maternal mortalities in the Metropolis.

Mrs Amo-Mensah said the Directorate had intensified its health awareness education programmes on malaria prevention since that could cause anaemia in pregnant mothers.

She said the Directorate had appealed to both the public and private health facilities to make use of Focal Anti-Natal Services.

Under the Focal Anti-Natal Service, only one nurse is in-charge of an expectant mother from the beginning of the pregnancy to delivery.

GNA