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Ministry to open maternal waiting home in Region Five
Victim of Maternal Death: Francesca Daly
Abena Rockcliffe
The Ministry of Health, in its continued quest to further decrease maternal mortality and stillbirths, will be opening a maternal waiting home in Region Five to facilitate high risk pregnancies and expecting women who may be dwelling far distances away from Hospitals.
Health Minister, Bheri Ramsaran, yesterday disclosed that his Ministry has plans to open a facility of this sort in every region. However, works for Region Five are already in motion.
Ramsaran said that the initiative is all part of promoting indigenous health.
The Minister opined that maternal deaths, in many instances, occur because of patients’ delay in going to the hospital despite knowledge of their complications.
He said that some mothers are warned that if they are to become impregnated following a complicated delivery, the pregnancy can be deemed “high risk…but they still go ahead”.
Further, he noted that those women are advised not to have babies in a close duration since it can be detrimental. However, “they wait until they begin to haemorrhage then go to the hospital” said Ramsaran.
The Minister said that expecting women, who notice complications like spotting and severe pains, can go to the Region Five facility.
He informed that the country has already seen two maternal waiting homes; one is within the Amerindian Hostel situated in Georgetown, and the other at Suddie, Essequibo.
The Georgetown facility has been in existence since last year and is equipped with 16 beds while the one at Suddie has six. Suddie’s facility has been functional since last March.
The Minister did not specify how soon the Region Five project is expected to be completed. However, he said that his Ministry is awaiting correspondence from the region before commencing practical works.
Ramsaran disclosed that the initiative is supported by the Ministries of Health, Amerindian Affairs, Local Government and United Nations Population Fund.
Maternal mortality has been an issue of concern within the media over the last few years, as the number of reported cases, has increased in comparison to a decade ago.
Recently, Ramsaran said that there is no cause for concern because the number of maternal deaths at this time is on par with the figure for last year.
In 2010, there has been a spate of maternal deaths. The records would show that about 30 per cent of the women who went to the Skeldon Hospital to give birth died during the latter quarter of the year.
Skeldon was not alone as Linden, where the government spent millions of dollars to build a brand new hospital that would have been the main referral hospital in that corner of the country, had a few too many cases.
Georgetown Hospital also had its share of maternal deaths. However, Ramsaran on Friday assured that Guyana will see fewer cases of maternal mortality as the Ministry continues to work feverishly to minimize such cases.
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