Pregnant women should not be turned away
Mmegi Editor | Tuesday August 8, 2017 11:21
In a statement issued last Friday, the ministry said that the hospital has only 60 midwives but presided over 7,200 deliveries in 2016 as compared with 1,600 deliveries performed by 160 midwives in clinics in the greater Gaborone area.
However, what the ministry has not been able to confirm is the reasons why many pregnant mothers prefer the hospital over other health facilities. The only argument from the officials is that midwives in clinics and hospitals are trained at same institutions and therefore mothers should not congest the hospital. Even more disturbing is the position that the hospital will only admit mothers who are delivering their fifth child.
The question then would be how many families in urban centres give birth to five children? Another question is whether the hospital will be turning pregnant mothers away, something, which will be unfortunate. This is a matter that should be approached with serious caution since we are talking about lives of two people. It is no dispute that Botswana has made immense progress in reducing maternal deaths, and child mortality, the pillars that were in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals as well as Sustainable Development Goals.
It would have been more understandable had the ministry conducted research on why pregnant mothers prefer Prince Marina Hospital over clinics in the greater Gaborone area to inform themselves before taking this high risk decision. It would also have made more sense had the ministry shared their findings with members of the public to appreciate this decision.
The lack of this crucial information will leave us with many unanswered questions, doubts and suspicions that PMH staff does not want to work. We will not be wrong to suspect that this was a decision taken by people who have lost touch with the daily challenges of ordinary people who rely on government health facilities for their health needs.
One of the options is for the ministry to extend the Maternity Ward at PMH instead of punishing and putting at risk innocent lives of unborn children and those of their mothers. As a nation we should celebrate births and not the other way round, for we need an increase in infant population who are the future of this country.
We hope that as the ministry tries to decongest PMH, no pregnant mothers will be turned away.
Today’s thought
“Pregnancy is a process that invites you to surrender to the unseen force behind all life.”
– Judy Ford