Still Births Rampart In Cape Coast [PHOTO]

Senior Nursing Officer at the Cape Coast Central Reproductive and Child Health Centre, Mrs. Elizabeth Bain-Doodu, has expressed concern about the high rate of stillbirths among young mothers in the Cape Coast Metropolis. She said such births were peculiar with adolescents and attributed the situation to the intake of unproved drugs by expectant mothers with the intension of terminating the pregnancy. Mrs. Bain-Doodu, who said this on last Wednesday during the annual performance review conference of the Cape Coast Health Directorate, advised the youth to abstain from pre-marital and unprotected sex to avoid unplanned pregnancy. She appealed to the heads of both private and public health facilities to join in the education of the youth on family planning, their physiological changes and the effects of teenage pregnancy. She urged all expectants mothers to visit the hospital regularly to ensure safe delivery so as to reduce the number of maternal mortality cases in the Metropolis. Mr. Samuel Sosi, the Metropolitan Health Director, also expressed concern about still birth cases in the metropolis and called for strict adherence to protocols governing deliveries to ensure that both babies and mothers are saved during childbirth. He said everything should be done to help reduce the maternal and infant mortality cases in health facilities in the area and called for early referrals of patients to better equipped hospitals and health facilities. Mr. Sosi also advised all health facilities to intensify their outreach education programmes in schools so as to educate the youth about the dangers involved in abortions and patronizing the services of quack doctors when pregnant. He called on all stakeholders to join in the fight for the eradication of diseases like malaria, ulcers, hypertension, diarrheas and HIV/AIDS which are still high in most Out Patient Department (OPD) cases. The Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mrs. Priscilla Arhin, expressed regret that some of the health workers were not performing their duties as expected of them and that it was the priority of the government to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6 which are reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and the combat of HIV/AIDS and that it should also be the priority of every hospital or health facility in the metropolis. Ms. Arhin appealed to health workers in the area to make their facilities client-friendly to attract patients there and advised them to eschew vices that would drag the name of the profession in the mud. Nana Kwemena Nyimfa IX, Adontenhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area who presided, called on health directorates in the region to put in place incentives to motivate doctors to stay. He urged hospitals to expand their horizon and engage in outreach programmes to help address the health needs of deprived areas in the region.