The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is urging the government to put aside politics and swiftly address maternal deaths, which it says have increased since the new government took office in May.
“This is not a ‘me and them’ situation… it’s about how we can improve the system… from our soundings, there has been an increase in maternal deaths and it is a concern and not to be made a political football. Six deaths since they took office,” the PPP’s parliamentary spokes-person on health Dr Frank Anthony told a press conference yesterday at Freedom House, in Georgetown.
Anthony lamented the deaths of the six mothers—Yonette Williams-Grey, who died in May; Carol Bollers, who died in July; Akeisha Nicholson, who also died in July; Alexis Syfox, who died in September; Vanessa Amsterdam, who also died in September; and Nikacia Allen, who died last Month.
He said that not enough is being done to address maternal deaths and warned that if left unaddressed it could result in the deaths of many other mothers and Guyana once again being rated poorly on global maternal mortality indices.
A 2014 report, ‘Trends in Maternal Mortality Estimates 1990 to 2013,’ had ranked Guyana as one of the five Caribbean countries with the highest maternal deaths. Guyana’s mortality rate was measured at 250 deaths per every 100,000 births. Within Caricom, Guyana’s maternal mortality rate is second only to Haiti, which has a rate of 350/100,000
The maternal mortality rate is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). It includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy for a specified year.
Anthony pointed out that the results of investigations by the Ministry of Public Health into the deaths of the mothers have not been forthcoming. He said they should be made public so that government can get help and recommendations to tackle the issue. “We don’t see the outcomes of these investigations… all the findings they are not disclosed so we move from one maternal death to another,” he said.
Anthony noted that the new administration allocated monies in this year’s budget to, among other things, see a 50-bed maternal unit extension at the Georgetown Public Hospital completed but so far it is behind in construction and no one knows when it will be operational. “Obviously if this facility is not in place, then we will continue to have problems of overcrowding at the Georgetown Hospital,” he added.
The sod for the project was turned in March and the facility was originally due to be completed in February next year.
According to Anthony, the former PPP/C government had promised to have two maternity waiting homes for mothers at Bartica and Lethem and it delivered on the latter and hoped that the new government would deliver on the former. Instead, he said, the Lethem facility has been closed and there is uncertainty about the other.
He stressed that there needs to be a plan of action and this needs to be shared with the public. “If you are going to be doing that, then you have to tell us the strategies and not only tell us, implement strategies that will result in the elimination of maternal deaths. That has not happened. They need to tell us what they will be doing to ensure there is even a reduction in these deaths,” he added.
Former Minister of Health Gail Teixeira, who was also present at the press conference, echoed Anthony’s criticisms and charged that the current government has no structured “go-to plan” that lists strategies to tackle the problem.
“You have to have quarterly reports coming from your health facilities. The Ministry of Health is supposed to monitor the number of maternal [deaths] and at management levels look at what measures to prevent and preempt wherever possible. It is one of the MDG [Millennium Development Goals] targets where we have not reduced, we have not reached and this is an issue for Guyana to treat, be it the PPP/C government or the APNU+AFC government… it’s women’s lives that are being lost unnecessarily in some cases,” she added.
