Koforidua, June 30, GNA - Queenmothers in the Eastern Region have criticised the poor attitude of some nurses towards pregnant women in maternity wards and other public health facilities and said it was one of the major causes that discourage pregnant women in the region from delivering at health facilities.

The Queenmothers said such attitudes had been contributing to the high maternal mortalities in the region and appealed to the Regional Secretariat of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to organize orientation workshops for the nurses.

They also called for more effective monitoring of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), some of whom they accused of unnecessarily delaying in transferring complicated labour cases.

These concerns were expressed at a workshop on maternal mortality organized by the Eastern Regional Secretariat of GHS for members of the Eastern Regional Association of Queenmothers at Koforidua on Thursday. The Eastern recorded 157 maternal deaths last year, the highest in the country. The Regional President of the Association, Nana Korkor Daa Mansa, Kukurantumihemaa, appealed to health workers to come out with a framework for settling differences with their employers to help reduce the frequency with which they embark on strike.

The Eastern Regional Director of Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyirah, appealed to the Queenmothers to visit health facilities in their areas to see what the health staffs are doing. He urged them to invite the health staff in their communities frequently to brief them on the health needs of their communities and what must be done.

The Deputy Director of Nursing in-charge of Public Health in the Eastern Region, Mrs Evelyn Abbey, said since 2003, the region had been recording over 100 pregnancy cases of girls between the ages of 10 to 14 years.

She said in 2003, the region recorded 120 cases, 2004 193 cases and in 2005, 168 cases and explained that such tendencies led to high abortions rate among children of school-going age and death.