Maternal deaths: Health Ministry resolving known challenges, sanctions for negligence possible

Two recent maternal deaths raised concerns about healthcare delivery but Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony posited that the local authorities are resolving known challenges in the sector.

Dr. Anthony, while responding to questions from the News Room at the sidelines of an event on Tuesday, said that the ministry has strived to reduce the number of maternal deaths locally.

Two specific issues have been targeted: treating excessive bleeding before or during childbirth and eliminating the delay in getting mothers in labour to the delivery room.

To remedy excessive bleeding, he said that much-needed drugs have been made available; healthcare workers have been trained to deal with this specific occurrence too.

Meanwhile, maternal waiting homes are being constructed particularly in hinterland regions to guarantee that there are fewer delays in getting mothers in labour into a hospital’s delivery room. This reduces the number of unsafe deliveries done.

“These are measures that we are taking to help prevent some of these unfortunate deaths.

“… every time we have a death and we do a review, we go back to the recommendations and how we can strengthen, to prevent any future deaths but it’s an ongoing process and we have to keep working on it,” Dr. Anthony explained.

Even with these improvements, a 40-year-old and a 19-year-old woman pregnant with twins succumbed while receiving treatment at the weekend, according to two separate releases from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Both women, the Health Minister said previously, experienced complications during their pregnancy. The 40-year-old died while receiving treatment at the National Infectious Diseases hospital at Liliendaal, Georgetown. The 19-year-old woman died at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Commenting on the two maternal deaths recorded at the weekend, the Health Minister said that two investigations were ordered. An internal investigation, conducted by the Georgetown hospital, already commenced; another investigation by the ministry’s maternal mortality committee is expected sometime this week.

The Health Minister said recommendations from both completed investigations will be used to further improve healthcare provided to expecting mothers.

He, however, noted that if health workers were negligent and contributed to the deaths, they can be penalised.

“If it’s negligence, it goes to the professional bodies for them to deal with the case,” Dr. Anthony said.

The professional bodies include the Guyana Medical Council and the Guyana Nursing Council.