Correspondence from Northern Region

The Tamale Teaching Hospital has appealed to health facilities in Northern Ghana to endeavour to refer maternal-related cases early as it steps up efforts to significantly reduce maternal deaths in the area.

TTH, which is the only tertiary health facility in the five regions of the north said delays in referring critical pregnancy-related cases to the hospital continue to be a leading cause of maternal deaths in the area.

The Tamale Teaching Hospital recorded 57 maternal deaths in 2024, with as many as 49 of the deaths due to late referrals from other facilities.

Although this is a significant reduction from the number of deaths recorded in 2023- 79, the hospital said much more needs to be done to further reduce the numbers.

Prof Alhassan Abdul-Mumin, Medical Director of TTH who disclosed this at the 2024 Annual Performance Review of the hospital on Thursday explained that most of the deaths were caused by delays by the patients to report to the hospital and delays within the health systems.

"So, they call them the three delays. Actually, before a pregnant woman decides to [go] to the hospital, they would've done a lot of things, so that is already the first delay. If they even decide to [go] to the hospital, how to find an appropriate place to come to the hospital is also another delay. Either there's no vehicle-appropriate ambulance or the road is not even good and when they decide to come to the hospital, sometimes also, there are delays within the health systems that can cause deaths. Those are the key issues that we get," he explained.

He said as part of efforts to reduce maternal mortality, Specialist Doctors of the hospital have been dispatched to the various health facilities to support them in managing pregnant women, to reduce incidents of late pregnancy complications.

Prof Abdul-Mumin said the TTH needs partnership with partners to ensure the initiative does not become "a nine-day wonder".

He added that the hospital has also worked on some broken-down equipment at the Maternal Intensive Care Unit while training more specialist doctors to help improve maternal health care in the hospital.

Speaking on some of the challenges that hindered effective healthcare delivery at TTH, Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Atik Adam said the current water and power crisis that has hit Tamale is significantly affecting the operations of the hospital.

He appealed to the utility service providers to work to improve the situation.

Dr. Atik said despite the challenges, the hospital has continued to procure modern equipment, expand its Pediatric Unit and embarked on outreach programs to offer free services to people within its catchment area.

He said he was confident that the hospital would continue to deliver the best services to achieve its target of becoming a centre of excellence in health service delivery in the country.

The Northern Regional Minister, Ali Adolf John said the John Mahama government will implement initiatives to provide affordable and quality health care services.

He said the government remained committed to making health accessible to all Ghanaians.

He said "The government of HE John Mahama remains committed to making health accessible to all Ghanaians. I assure you that this administration will continue implementing initiatives in the health care sector to provide quality health care at affordable cost."