THE Northern Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Akwasi Twumasi, has deplored the attitude of some Ghanaian men, who are reluctant to support pregnant women are due for labour.
He said that attitude had resulted in some complications that had contributed to some incidence of maternal deaths in the country.
Dr Twumasi cited particular instances when some men were unwilling to use their cars to pick women in labour to health centres with the flimsy excuse of preventing their cars from being soiled with blood.
“They have soon forgotten that it is these blood-soaked wombs that they emerged from and that without it, the world would cease to function,” he stated.
The regional director was addressing a meeting of the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) in Tamale, which was attended by the various local administrators, heads of institutions, traditional rulers and members of the security services.
He observed that some transport operators were still hesitant to assist women in labour and this he found very disappointing.
Dr Twumasi mentioned also that men were very eager to claim ownership of new babies and even make attempts to name them and “yet, when the time comes for the babies to be delivered, the men shun the company of the women.”
He also chastised some Ghanaian men who ordered their wives to seek permission from them before seeking medical attention when in need, stressing, “It is high time we realised that these negative attitudes of ours are contributing very much to the incidence of maternal deaths, which could have been prevented if the women were assisted”.
The regional director revealed that in the first quarter of this year, 25 women in the Northern Region died as a result of labour-related complications, which raised the possibility of a higher figure by the end of the year.
He said in 2007, 155 women in the region lost their lives in the course of labour and this figure dropped to 91 in 2008.
“In 2009, the number of deaths began to increase again from 91 to 96 and as things stand now, we cannot tell what the situation would be by the end of 2010, that is why all hands have to be on deck,” he stated.
The director mentioned that more efforts must be made towards ensuring that women had access to trained and skilled birth attendants and services, that included antenatal care, postnatal care, family planning and basic and comprehensive obstetric care.
This, he noted, would be possible if there was an increase in the number of healthcare facilities and the requisite human resource to man these centres.
Currently, the region has 263 health facilities, 19 of which are hospitals, four maternity homes, three polyclinics with the majority being Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds.
Dr Twumasi hinted that five additional clinics were under construction and would soon be completed to serve residents of Janga, Tatale, Chereponi, Kpandai and Karaga.
The human resource, he noted, was also seriously inadequate as there were only 15 doctors and 210 midwives currently working in the regional and district health facilities in the region.
He said last year, only 34.8 per cent of births were conducted by skilled birth attendants, which implied that more than half of the births were either conducted by traditional birth attendants or untrained persons, and these contributed to some of the complications that led to the deaths.
Dr Twumasi further recommended that more work should be done to improve the road networks in the region so as to facilitate access to health care, particularly in emergency situations.
As of 2009, only 31 per cent of roads in the region were rated good, whiles 22 per cent were considered poor. The rest are fairly motorable.
This situation, according to Dr Twumasi, had adverse effects on maternal health as it impeded rural women from seeking adequate health care at district health facilities.
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