Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Thursday, April 30/09
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Conditions at the Maternity Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), as a result of inadequate operation theatres, defective elevators, irregular flow of water and lack of other materials and equipment, have hindered the effective operation of health personnel at the unit.
It is disheartening to learn that prior to visits to the unit by the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, on April 24 and April 27, the lift to the six-storey block had not been working and women in labour were asked to climb the steps to the various floors of the Maternity Ward of the hospital, while those who could not climb were carried on the stretcher.
According to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report, the over-aged lifts had been breaking down frequently since February, and stopped working over the past few days.
It took the intervention of the Health Minister to have one of the lifts restored on Monday, after he had directed the Administration of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department to ensure that the lift was replaced within one month.
The report said the minister wondered why the department could not use part of its internally generated funds to make the lifts work, but the Head of the department, Prof. Yao Enyonam Kwawukume, attributed the situation to administrative bottlenecks at the hospital.
“We feel that they don't really care for women,” Prof. Kwawukume said, adding that because of the deplorable conditions at the ward, caesarean sections were performed at times at the Cardiothoracic Centre and other departments.
“We perform between 12 and 15 caesarian sections a day, but only one of the two theatres is currently active,” Prof. Kwawukume said.
The conditions at the Korle Bu Maternity Unit and the Maternity Wards of the Ridge Hospital, as well as other health facilities in parts of the country, in spite of the country’s quest to attain a reduction in maternal and infant mortality, is pathetic considering the fact that delays at the health facility had been identified as one of the causes of pregnancy-related conditions, also known as obstetric complications.
Health experts also say the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age in many developing countries include post-partum haemorrhage (bleeding at delivery), infections, eclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy), prolonged or obstructed labour, and complications of abortion.
In support of set goals and priorities for the Global Safe Motherhood Initiative and also in conformity with national safe motherhood programmes, the stimulation of research, mobilisation of resources, provision of technical assistance and sharing of information, services at the health facilities need to be improved to make childbirth and pregnancy safer.
The fifth target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) talks about improving maternal health by reducing maternal mortality ratio by three quarters in areas where high risk of women dying during pregnancy or childbirth is prevalent.
Although a pregnant woman for the sake of herself and her unborn baby would like to access quality and skilled antenatal services, the issue of affordability will also determine where a pregnant woman would want to seek care.
With the introduction of free antenatal and delivery services by the government coupled with the availability of skilled health workers at various public health facilities, most women prefer to deliver at the KBTH, and other public health facilities, since they are assured of quality health care. But the current problems bedevilling the Maternity Unit of the nation’s premier hospital are worrying.
The department is supposed to have two operating theatres functioning at any given time but currently only one theatre is functioning. The situation, according to the health officers, has left doctors to decide on which of the expectant mothers needing caesarean section must first be attended to, although they contend that every pregnant case can become critical at any given time.
Also water, which is crucial for the operation at the unit, is sometimes scarce and the problem is compounded by the fact that the hospital does not own a water tanker.
The Maternity Unit has 155 midwives, who attend to about 200 pregnant women and also records between 30 and 50 normal deliveries a day.
For these reasons, some of the health officials interviewed by the Daily Graphic suggested that various departments of the hospital need to be given some level of autonomy to enhance their efficiency and explained that the situation whereby all the departments were dependant on the central administration of the hospital for funds to undertake their day-to-day activities was crippling their operations and that of the hospital as a whole.
In an interview, the Public Relations Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mr Mustapha Salifu, stated that the management was working on these requests in order to come out with feasible plans and programmes to improve quality healthcare delivery at the hospital.
He also gave the assurance that in the short term, 13 of the hospital’s old lifts would be rehabilitated at a cost of $330,000 with a view of replacing all the them in future.
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