11 maternal deaths already recorded by Health Ministry for 2013

Aug 15, 2013 News

As at the end of July, the Ministry of Health has on record a total of 11 maternal deaths. This is according to Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud, who related during an interview with Kaieteur News that all cases of women’s deat
h throughout the period of pregnancy, even up to 42 days after delivery, are mandatorily reported to his office. He disclosed that both private and public health facilities throughout the country are, by law, required to make such reports within 24 hours.
However, he noted that there are instances when the law allows for far-flung Regions (One, Seven, Eight and Nine), to be granted a three-day grace period, since some of the facilities there do not have established communication links. Reports can be submitted by telephone, radio set or even email.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud

Once these deaths are reported, a file is immediately opened by the CMO’s office and the ensuing actions are closely monitored. Among the actions, is the requisite convening of an internal investigation at the facility where the death occurred in order to determine the causative factors. The health facilities, according to Dr Persaud, are usually given a seven-day period to examine all relevant records before submitting the findings and copies of all relevant records, including all clinic charts, to the Ministry of Health.
The relevant documents, Dr Persaud said, must be sourced at all hospitals where the patient would have been attended to until the time of death.
“Sometimes a patient may die at the Georgetown Public Hospital but might have been referred from Paramakatoi and somebody has to actually go in there and get charts and copy them…so we allow for about 14 days for some institutions to submit their records,” the CMO disclosed.
The CMO’s office must also be furnished with a copy of the post mortem examination as according to Dr Persaud, each maternal-related death must have a post mortem regardless of the cause.
“Even if she was involved in a road traffic accident or had a disease such as malaria or HIV, a post mortem must be done so we must also have a copy of that as part of the investigation,” Dr Persaud said.
The submitted documents and the findings of the internal probe are then reviewed by the CMO in order to determine whether the deaths were avoidable or not. Moreover, deaths can be classified as direct or indirect.
“If determined that there is need for further reviews, the CMO can decide that an investigation be convened by a standing Expert Committee, an independent body from across health disciplines, and all of the documents are handed over to that Committee,” related Dr Persaud.
And according to him, all of the 11 recorded deaths have been investigated and relevant actions have been taken. These actions could include disciplinary action meted out at the level of the institution where the death occurred or even at the level of the Medical or Nursing Councils, both of which could enforce censorship or even revoke the licences of health professionals.
But although the ideal outcome would be that no woman die during the period of pregnancy or even childbirth, such a goal may be classified as near impossible, according to Dr Persaud. Nonetheless, he insists that astute efforts are being made by the Ministry of Health to not only monitor the situation of maternal and child mortality but also to reduce such incidents by providing better quality care.
According to him, there is no eluding the fact that there are some risks involved in the child bearing scenario, especially given the change of the social demographic whereby more women are now opting to be educated and delay becoming pregnant. This development has resulted in an annual five to 10 per cent increase of older mothers.
A notable challenge in the older mothers, Dr Persaud disclosed, is that of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and hypertension that could develop.
This however does not change the fact that there are at times equal, if not greater challenges, faced by younger mothers.
“Even though we have seen a considerable amount of teenage pregnancy over the last five years, we do still have young mothers below 19 and even below 16 that become pregnant and fall in the high-risk group,” disclosed Dr Persaud.