Healthcare delays killed 68 mothers last year, officials reveal
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday September 16, 2015 16:21
Midwife and Maternal Mortality Reduction Initiative co-ordinator for Ngami and Chobe regions, Eva Lephirimile, said of the various service delivery factors responsible for maternal deaths, delays in providing service were to blame for 77 percent of maternal deaths.
“Other leading factors were health care provider’s lack of skill, absence of emergency triage, poor monitoring, poor documentation, stock outs and delayed referral.
Poor communication between colleagues in the same health facility, which include doctors and nurses within referral chain, colleagues of different specialties are also contributing to maternal deaths,” she said.
Lephirimile said mothers-to-be frequently experienced delays in receiving appropriate care after arriving at health facilities and also faced inadequately skilled attendants as well as a lack of equipment, drugs and supplies.
“We have also established that there’s an issue, referral delays in reaching health facilities due to poor roads, poor communication networks and lack of transport,” she said.
Lephirimile said delays could result in women’s conditions progressively worsening and making the task of saving lives even more difficult.
“I urge members of the public queuing in health facilities to consult the medical doctor and always give pregnant women a chance to be assisted first.
Pregnancy comes with risks,” she said. Lephirimile said patient or family factors driving maternal deaths include several pre-existing conditions in families, poor recognition of health problems and distance from health care facilities.
She said poor recognition of health problems, delays in deciding to seek care, non-recognition of danger signs and lack of birth prepared families and communities, were also contributing factors.
The health expert noted that while pregnancy is a normal, healthy state that most women aspire to at some point in their lives, it also carries with it serious risks, which if unattended to, can lead to death.
Lephirimile said suffering during pregnancy often goes beyond the purely physical and affects women’s ability to undertake their social and economic responsibilities and to participate in the development of their communities.
“A maternal death has implications for the whole family and an impact that rebounds across generations.
It also offers a litmus test of the status of women, their access to health care and the adequacy of the health care system in responding to their needs,” she said.
Lephirimile said the death of a woman is a huge loss as a woman is the pillar of her family, a key educator to her children, a caretaker of both young and the old, a mother, wife and sister.
“Women are also often the main if not the sole bread winner and a contributor to economic development,” she said.