Latest update September 13th, 2026 10:36 AM
303 moms had near-death experience at GPHC this year
– 10 died while giving birth, 54 stillbirths recorded
Kaieteur News – For the year thus far, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) recorded a total of 10 maternal death cases, signaling a significant decrease from the previous years.
This is according to Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at the GPHC, Dr. Rafi Rozan who made the disclosure during an end-of-the-year press conference hosted by the hospital on Thursday. Dr. Rozan was at the time delivering a brief overview of his department’s achievements for the year 2023, when he shared the figures. It was noted that last year, 16 maternal death cases were recorded while in 2021, 17 cases were recorded.
In his presentation, he said that seven of 10 deaths were “direct deaths”, another two were “indirect deaths” and one was yet to be classified. According to the Head of Department, direct obstetric deaths are basically due to complication of pregnancy, complication in childbirth, and complication arising from mismanagement, whereas an indirect death is basically caused by the pregnancy interfering or worsening an existing condition.
Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at the GPHC, Dr. Rafi Rozan
He noted that the majority of the 10 cases were referred to the GPHC from other hospitals including private institutions. “With regards to the maternal deaths for 2023, seven of these deaths were referred to GPHC and of these referrals, six of those referrals were deemed critical. Critical is being defined as the need for intensive care and admission, so 6 of the seven were basically critical and one was non critical,” he stated. This publication learnt that of the six critical patients, four came to the hospital intubated.
Dr. Rozan went on to explain that of the 10 deaths, three of the women died of ectopic pregnancies, three cases were because of respiratory disorders, another three were because of hypertensive diseases during pregnancy and one was because of hypovolemic shock after a caesarean section (C-Section) operation.
Apart from the 10 cases of maternal deaths, he mentioned that this year they started accounting for “maternal near miss”. He said this is referred to the situation in which a pregnant mother experiences a severe complication during pregnancy, childbirth or within 42 days after delivery once they survive. He shared that maternal near miss is basically an important indicator for the quality of maternal healthcare services and can be used to identify areas of improvement in any healthcare system.
The Head of Department elaborated that for the year so far, they have had 303 patients who were classified as a maternal near miss. “We have identified 303 patients that eventually could have died but survived,” he added. In his presentation also, Dr. Rozan shared that for the year, the department reported 4,860 baby deliveries. Of which 1,569 persons were C-section and 3,291 were through normal delivery. “With regards to still birth we know that the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines stillbirth as a baby that dies after 28 weeks of pregnancy but before or during birth,” he briefed. With this, he said that in 2023, a total of 54 stillbirths were recorded and this encompasses both “macerated stillbirth” and “fresh stillbirths.”
Dr. Rozan went on to state that the World Health Assembly endorsed every new birth action plan which is known as ENAP. This plan he mentioned is basically that by 2030 most countries should have lesser than 12 stillbirths per 1,000 deliveries. He noted that with regard to this year, GPHC would have had 11 stillbirths occurred in 1,000 deliveries reaching that ENAP goal. “So this basically happen because of more strategies that were implemented, and basically the staffing in our outpatient clinic,” he pointed out.
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- Dr. Rafi Rozan, Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department at the GPHC, near-death, presentation, recorded
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