A gynaecologist oncologist, Dr. Ama Kaki Ghunney, has revealed that the worst part of her job as an obstetric gynaecologist is dealing with patients you can't save, particularly in obstetrics.

Speaking in a recent interview on Today's Woman on TV3, monitored by GhanWeb, she stated that while most pregnant women walk into health facilities healthy, there are times a baby or an expectant mother is lost during the delivery process.

"Most pregnant women are not sick. It is not like any other discipline where you have patients who are sick. Pregnant women are not sick; they are trying to propagate their families. She can walk in the hospital, healthy and ready to have a baby, and once in a while you lose either the baby or the mother; that is also very difficult for me; maternal mortality is very difficult for me," she added.

Reflecting on her 14-year experience, she said one of the most challenging aspects of her job has to do with counselling families who have lost a child during the delivery process.

"It is hard when mothers die during the delivery process, especially when you have to go out to counsel the mother or counsel the family," she explained.

Dr. Ghunney said one of her mentors helped her overcome the emotional toll of maternal and infant mortality.

"It is something one of my mentors, Dr. Fofie, told me. We were on the same team in Ridge Hospital, and then we had one of these cases, and I had taken it so hard, so he walked up to me and said, Ama, you say you are a Christian; you know you are being used by God.

Every patient you save is through God's work, and for every patient you lose, God allows it to happen. So, if you are talking this hard and you think it is in your ability to save these patients, does that mean that for every patient you save, you are taking the glory for yourself because you think you saved those patients?

He put it in perspective for me that I am only a vessel being used by God; as long as I do my best and allow him to work through me, the outcome is in his hands, she explained.

Despite the challenges, Dr. Ghunney finds fulfilment in saving lives.

"Some patients can come in very badly, but with the help of the team, the doctors, the nurses, the laboratory scientists, the mother goes home with her baby. Those days are very fulfilling", she added.

Data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) shows that in 2023, 860 women died from pregnancy-related causes, with an institutional maternal mortality ratio of 109.35 per 1000 live births.

Some 2541 women also died of maternal complications between 2021 and 2023, with obstetric hemorrhage (OH) and gestational hypertension being the leading causes.

JKB/OGB

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