In the light of two reported infant deaths last week, Minister of Public Heath Dr George Norton has reiterated that his ministry continues to work to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate.
It has been reported that a 21-year-old mother of three barely survived her fourth pregnancy after she suffered a ruptured uterus and began bleeding profusely. The mother survived after undergoing an emergency C-Section but the infant succumbed three days later in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
The mother, who is still recovering in the hospital, had been deemed a high-risk patient owing tintervals between her four pregnancies.
The second mortality was that of a baby born to a 17-year-old who was left “brain dead” in the GPHC Intensive Care Unit after complication from a preexisting condition forced doctors to perform a C-Section 23 weeks into her pregnancy.
According to Norton, the deaths were unavoidable as both babies were in foetal distress before their delivery.
Norton stressed that while both maternal and infant deaths continue to be recorded, the country is doing much better. “We are doing much better. Infant mortality was once as much 40 for one month but now at the higher scale our average is 10,” he said.
His observations are supported by the PAHO/WHO Health@50 in Guyana: Progress Health Report, which notes that according to national data infant mortality has decreased from 60 per 1,000 live births in 1963 to a low of 10.8 live births per 1,000 in 2009. This, however, increased to 23.3 per 1,000 live births at the end of 2014. It further notes that the increase was related to an increase in neonatal infections for which control measures were implemented.
Norton stressed that the ministry continues to invest in neonatal units and trained neonatal staff to address the issue of infant mortality.
