Marina Bans Walk-In Deliveries

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Monday August 7, 2017 17:15

 

He said the hospital was overcrowded and as a result patient care was sometimes compromised.

“The Ministry of Health and Wellness has taken a decision that all first time pregnant women and those who have delivered up to four children will be delivered at local clinics. All along the above pregnant women were delivered in hospitals. As a result, both the Maternity and Postnatal Wards are always overcrowded,” he noted in a press statement.

The statement notes that last year PMH, which has 60 midwives, delivered 7,200 pregnant mothers while clinics in the Greater Gaborone with about 160 midwives delivered around 1,600 pregnant women.

It further explains that midwives at clinics and hospitals are trained at the same institutions and are equally capable of providing quality care. “In the past, midwives from the Greater Gaborone District Health Management Team were temporarily assigned at PMH. Therefore they have experience in matters of care during labour and delivery,” it notes.

In an interview with The Monitor, Kutlapye said this process does not mean that the hospital will be completely closing its maternity services.  He explained that the hospital will continue giving maternity services to expectant mothers. However, Kutlapye explained that they will be attending pregnant women who have been referred to the hospital by different clinics.

Kutlapye further explained that during pregnancy, the midwives were doing extensive assessment throughout the pregnancy so that they could be able to detect if the pregnancy has complications at an early stage. “We have observed that the congestion of the hospital is made by self referrals. Many people come to the hospital when they could be getting the same services from the nearest clinics and as a results contributing to the workload and congestion of the maternity and other wards.

We will be attending pregnant women who have been referred here by their doctors. Most of the referrals may be caused by different complications that can put the mother or the children’s lives at risk.

We will also be attending patients with cardiac issues as long as they are referred by their doctors,” he said.

He pointed out that the hospital has a capacity of accommodating 52 pregnant women instead of more than 100 patients they accommodated which was unhealthy for the expectant mothers and therefore they decided to deal with patients at a minimum level.