Media urged to lead crusade to combat maternal mortality

Dr. Kennedy Brightson, Medical Superintendent of Dangme West District Hospital at Dodowa has called on the media to lead the crusade to project the fight to save mothers from maternal mortality.

He said the media should develop strategies to educate people, monitor and redress the problem to enable Ghana to achieve the Millennium Development Goal Five in the shortest possible time.

In addition, he proposed for setting up of Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health to give maternal health issues the recognition they deserved.

Dr. Brightson made this known when Media and Communication Advocacy Network (MCAN) of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) visited the hospital to have first-hand information on the provision of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EMONC).

He said it was necessary to save mothers from maternal mortality to ensure development in homes and the nation as a whole.

He said a woman’s wage earnings was more critical to the family welfare and the community than their male counterparts.

“If you lose a woman, you have lost a chunk of national resources. It has clear implications for a country’s productive capacity, labour supply and economic well-being”, he said.

Dr. Brightson said the hospital had been able to achieve zero tolerance for maternal mortality for the past one year through commitment and cooperation of the staffs.

In addition, he said, the hospital had been organizing outreach programmes for pregnant women in the districts.

He advised medical practitioners to go beyond clinical procedures when necessary to save the lives of mothers since the clinical procedures took time to implement.

He called for adequate equipment and the enrolment of more skilled midwives into health institutions to help save mothers from dying.

He called on Government to provide an ambulance to the hospital since it had none to carry out its duties effectively.

Source: GNA