By: Problyn J. Alpha
Addressing the problems associated with a high maternal mortality rate at the Bo Government Hospital and in Bo District as a whole the newly transferred Gynecologist Dr. Osman Kakay has advised pregnant women to join the clinic early during pregnancy.
He appealed to health workers to encourage pregnant women to ensure that they have good experience in antenatal care, labour at the Bo government hospital and other peripheral health units ( PHUs) in Bo District.
The importance of a clinic according to Dr. Osman Kakay is to enable health practitioners to easily pick up complications and try to avert these complications as early as possible.
When asked to know what can be done to wipe off the bad image of high maternal mortality in the hospital and Bo District as a whole, Dr Kakay intimated that the work to erase the bad image does not only lie on the health workers but needs collaborative efforts to change such narratives.
He said for far too long, many women have lost their lives due to complications but if only stakeholders, husbands, boyfriends and religious leaders work in consonant with the health practitioners, the narrative will be changed.
Talking about the strategies which his office will put in place to get the attention of women who are seeking gyne service in hospitals he implored them to go back to the Bo Government hospital.
Dr Osman Kakay explained that his office is more than willing to change the narrative of the hospital by making sure pregnant women have what he described as a “ Positive maternal experience” and displaying professional and acceptable behaviour by health workers to ensure patients have good experience of labour at pregnancy as labour pain is very stressful.