KADUNA: 30 hospitals record 123 maternal deaths in 6 months

One hundred and twenty-three maternal deaths were recorded in 30 public health facilities in Kaduna State between January and June 2018.

This was contained in the state’s mid-year 2018 Maternal and Perinatal Deaths Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) report (January-June 2018) presented in a forum organized by the Kaduna State Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM).

The chairman of the committee who presented the report, Malam Lawal Abubakar, noted that the figure did not include women who died in private hospitals, primary health care centres (PHCs) and those that died at home within the period.

According to the report, 20 maternal deaths were recorded in 12 facilities in the Southern zone of the state, 68 were recorded in 10 facilities in the central zone while 35 were recorded in the northern zone.

Mortality in the 30 facilities was attributed to hemorrhage, sepsis, anaemia, eclampsia and ruptured uterus, among others.

The report pointed out that all the 30 hospitals visited had adequate stock of essential life-saving drugs which if used effectively could have helped in prevention and management of hemorrhage, anaemia, sepsis and eclampsia among others.

“36 percent of the hospitals do not have ready to use blood due to lack of a state-owned blood supply chain system, 77 percent of the hospitals have non-functional blood banks due to irregular supply of electricity,”

“36 percent of the hospitals have non-functional ambulances for emergency referral of patients and pregnant women with obstetric complications while 56 percent of the hospitals do not have the Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) kit for the management of incomplete abortion,” the report stated.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Paul M. Dogo, said efforts were on by the state government to address lack of blood in hospitals across the state, just as discussions are ongoing on how to use drones to transport blood to distant areas, particularly security challenged areas.