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