The Ashanti Region recorded 172 maternal deaths last year, Dr Kofi Asare, the Regional Director of Health Services, has said.

He said 107 of the deaths occurred at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) with one death at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hospital.

Dr Asare, who was addressing the opening session of the Ashanti Region Health Service annual performance review meeting on Monday, said the rest of deaths were reported from various health facilities in the region.

The four-day review meeting that health personnel from 18 districts of the region are attending will assess their performance for the past year and also map out better strategies for bringing quality health services to the doorsteps of people in the region.

Dr Asare expressed concern about the increase of maternal deaths in the region, saying, "instead of pregnancy and delivery being a joyful event it has now become a tragic affair."

As a first step towards checking the trend, Dr Asare said the Regional Directorate of Health Service had instituted "a maternal death audit to identify the real cause of such deaths and work out appropriate methods of reducing and preventing their occurrence."

Dr Asare said discipline was crucial if the health service was to achieve its goal and targets at providing quality health care for the people.

"The lukewarm attitude of some health personnel to work coupled with the tendency to misuse vehicles and financial resources of the service hinders our efforts at attaining our goals and should no longer be allowed to gain grounds", he said.