Pregnant Women Worried

A Pregnant Woman

Some pregnant women in the Brong Ahafo Region have expressed worry over the high demand of items that are taken from them before delivery at the various hospitals and clinics in the region.

According to them, since the government stopped taking money for delivery the midwives in the hospitals have taken advantage to demand things that are not needed for delivery.

'We are sometimes forced to buy things like tom brown, Lucozade, one pack of toilet roll and other things that are not used at the hospitals. This has forced many of us to deliver at home,' one woman mentioned.

She alleged that if a pregnant woman is not able to buy all the things demanded by the midwife before delivery the pregnant woman is sometimes maltreated at the hospital.

This was revealed on Ark FM in Sunyani, where pregnant women called in on the morning show to share their experience on how they were maltreated when they were unable to provide the things demanded by the midwives.

They therefore called on the hospital authorities in the Brong Ahafo Region, especially those at the regional hospital, to check the demanding habit being exhibited by the midwives.

Meanwhile, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist in Sunyani, Raphael Cubagee, has confirmed the worry of the pregnant women after he said his wife went through the same ordeal when she went to the hospital about two years ago to deliver.

'I had to pack a full suitcase of items that were demanded by the midwife, but she was also forced to buy tom brown at the hospital which she never used,' he alleged.

The Senior Nursing Officer at the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital, Rita Adwoa Ansong, has refuted some of the allegations by the pregnant women and called on the pregnant women to report any nurse who forced them into buying items like Lucozade and tom brown at the hospital.

She also mentioned that some of the things demanded by the various midwives are highly needed for the safety of the pregnant women, her baby and the nurse that would deliver the baby.

  From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani