By Prince J Musa in Kenema
Stakeholders in Nongowa Chiefdom, Kenema District have pledged their support to the fight against Maternal Deaths in their locality during a community meeting to address the problem.
Speaking at the meeting, the District Medical Officer (DMO), Dr. Donald Samuel Grant said they will also ensure that local authorities come onboard in putting measures in place to minimize maternal death in chiefdoms and the district as a whole.
He informed the gathering that the District Health Medical Team has decided to embark on community sensitization as some communities hold on to pregnant women ignoring pre-natal medical attention until the situation worsens before rushing them to a health facility.
He said their next point of engagement will be with the local councils at their monthly meetings to see which action should be taken to stop some of the contributing factors leading to maternal deaths.
“It is frustrating to see pregnant women lose their lives during delivery. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation and its development partners are doing their best to curtail maternal death, but from our investigations, most pregnant women do not attend the clinics to know their health status,’’ Dr. Grant said.
He reiterated that the fight against Ebola was tough for the medical people, and recognized the involvement of the traditional leaders as major partners with the government helped curtail the chain of transmission. He emphasized that their involvement and enforcement of bye-laws will help greatly against pregnant women dying especially as a result of home delivery.
Dr. Grant stated that maternal deaths can be tackled through family contribution by ensuring that pregnant women attend clinic regularly and stakeholders’ enforcing rules against home delivery which he said is on the increase.
He admitted that ambulance services have been a major challenge as well.
In her presentation, Midwife, Zainab Swarray said three pregnant women lost their lives in the month of April, and from their investigations, the causes of death were late referral, bleeding and irregularities in clinic attendances.
The District Health Sister, Margaret Vincent said they plan to involve the chiefs in their outreach activities to talk to their people against home delivery. She urged pregnant women to attend clinics regularly and singled out pregnant young girls as being in the habit of doing that.
She reported they are investigating one maternal death at Pandebu Dama in the Dama Chiefdom where a pregnant woman gave birth at home and later died. She said it sends a signal that home deliveries are still ongoing in those communities which she said undermine the health system.
Town chief of Kenema, Alhaji Kenie Momoh Ngombulango on behalf of Paramount Chief Sadique Mateo Kapuwa appreciated the move made by the DHMT to recognize them as partners in the health sector.
He recommended that the Ambulance assigned to Nongowa Chiefdom be taken to them as local authorities so that they can assess the challenges of the vehicle and provide help in terms of fuel as their own contribution to improve the health system.
He said the chiefdom authorities should partner with the local councils to approach EDSA for permanent electricity for the hospital so that the issue of power outage can be mitigated.
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