The maternity department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has not recorded any pregnancy-related deaths in the past three months. The head of the department, Prof. E.Y Kwawukume, who made this known, said until this achievement, the department usually registered a few deaths mainly due to haemorrhage and hypertension.

According to him all the over 3,000 patients who were managed by the department over the three-month period, including the Christmas season, survived.

According to him, the achievement was due to a multiple of factors, mainly improved counseling of the pregnant women on the danger signs of pregnancy and why they should report early to the hospital. In addition, he said the department had also put in place a policy that required pregnant women to donate blood before they went into labour, to be used in emergencies. Prof. Kwawukume said apart from that policy, some pharmaceutical companies donated free antibiotics to the department so the pregnant women did not have to spend time going out to look for drugs to buy, therefore reducing time wastage.

Prof. Kwawukume further said that all the senior doctors now actively took part in the monthly internal audit of maternal mortality and how to prevent it. Another critical factor which had contributed to quality care of pregnant women was the improved service being rendered by doctors posted from the department to some polyclinics in Accra. These are the La, Maamobi and Mamprobi polyclinics, which also serve as training grounds for postgraduate students.

As a result of this arrangement, Prof. Kwawukume said, emergencies were handled on time and only complicated cases were referred to Korle-Bu. He appealed to the health authorities to provide theatres in those polyclinics to enable them to improve their services. That, he further said, should be augmented by additional theatres and gadgets for the maternity department to enable it to maintain the current state of affairs.