Asogli Queenmothers Award 11 Midwives, Others … For Preventing Maternal Mortality Deaths For A Year

Date published: July 17, 2014

From Samuel Agbewode.

The issue of high maternal mortality has become a major development issue and, therefore, captured in the Millennium Development Goals four and five to ensure a reduction or eradicate it totally from the health delivery system.

It was in view of the general concerns that the Asogli queenmothers, through the Queenmother of Ho-Dome, Mama Atrato, initiated an award scheme to reward hard working health workers, especially nurses, midwives and doctors, who have helped in eliminating maternal mortality at the Ho Municipal Hospital for one year.

The award scheme became possible through the cooperation of the Asogli queenmothers and Volta Regional Health Directorate, with sponsorship from organisations and individuals in the Ho Municipality, which paved way for the first award ceremony held at the premises of the Ho Municipal Hospital.

The Asogli queenmothers used a local radio station programme in ‘Ewe’ and hosted by a popular broadcast journalist, Mr. Kwami Senyo, who adopted a telephone call-in, as women who had delivered at the hospital gave account of the satisfaction or otherwise of the nurses, midwives and doctors who attended to them.

The programme successfully helped the Asogli queenmothers identify nine nurses and midwives, and two doctors as personalities at the Ho Municipal Hospital whose professional competence had helped in bringing maternal mortality to zero percent within a year, which the queenmother’s association said was a remarkable achievement in the history of the hospital.

Mama Atrato II said for some years back, the queenmothers of Asogli were alarmed about the frequent deaths that occurred at the Ho Municipal Hospital anytime expectant mothers go to deliver, during which every week two or more women or their babies died at the hospital.

Mama Atrato continued that the worry emanated from the fact that children are the gifts of God, and bringing them to the world should not lead to sad moments for families. The Ho-Dome Queenmother remarked that the alarming deaths at the Municipal Hospital in the past was a major problem for the traditional authorities in the Asogli traditional area, which made most pregnant women scared to the extent that the facility was no longer the choice of families to allow their expectant mothers to deliver at until reports indicated that for the past one year, no maternal deaths were recorded.

The Paramount Queenmother of Asogli, Mama Akua Dei II, who chaired the function, commended the doctors, nurses and midwives for their hard work, stressing the need for them to show love to all manners of clients, especially pregnant women, and avoid transferring anger carried from their homes to patients. The Medical Superintendent in charge of the Ho Municipal Hospital, Dr. Lawrence Kumi, tasked health workers, especially nurses, to refrain from the usual cup-in-hand style of demanding support, but rather work hard to face any kind of challenge in the discharge of their duties, saying hard work and commitment attract voluntary support like the awards instituted by the Asogli queenmothers.

Dr. Kumi gave the assurance that under his leadership, he hoped to transform the facility to a class that would befit its status as a Municipal Hospital. He stated that the nurses, midwives and other supporting health staff were prepared to deliver to the expectation and to the satisfaction of the clients, and that through hard work, maternity deaths at the hospital had reduced from 14 percent to zero.

The Volta Regional Director of Health, Dr. Joseph Teye-Nuertey, said he was not surprised at the achievement, because there was general improvement in health care delivery in the region, and disclosed that as at June 2014, 44 maternal deaths occurred at the various facilities in the region, reassuring that the Regional Health Directorate would continue to work hard in collaboration with all the stakeholders to reduce the deaths of women and children at birth.

Dr. Teye-Nuertey announced that skilled delivery had increased at half year from 45.6 percent to 47.9 percent in 2013, and stillbirths decreased from 1.9 percent to 1.8 percent, as neonatal deaths also decreased from 5 per 1,000 to 3.1 per live births in mid 2014, adding that the Ho Municipal Hospital was able to achieve zero percent maternal deaths within a year, which ought to be commended.

The Regional Director of Health noted that a few years ago, the Ho Municipal Hospital was noted for poor nursing practices on women in labour, and lauded the efforts of the management and staff for working hard to change the bad image created in the eyes of the public due to some unpleasant events that occurred at the hospital some years back.

“This effort is a clear demonstration of the fact that with commitment and unity of purpose, organisations can achieve their aims and objectives. The hardworking midwives that made the change are not from anywhere, they are the same people who worked in the Ho Municipal Hospital some few years ago,” he stressed. He commended the efforts of the Asogli queenmothers in recognising the commitment to work by the staff of the Ho Municipal Hospital, especially, the midwives.

He further that due to the scarcity of midwives in the region, he had decided that there would be no transfer of midwives out of the area. Dr. Teye-Nuertey urged other traditional areas in the region to help improve upon the health delivery process in their respective areas by motivating health workers to enable them to put in their best.

The Volta Regional Minister, Madam Helen Adwoa Ntoso, observed that the most sacred, natural, and painful experience a woman accomplishes in her lifetime was to nurture her unborn baby, feel it grow and move within her own body, and then give birth to another human soul, as the classic expression of spirituality, which was exceptional to females, and midwifery, as a profession, allows it to be part of the unique moments of women’s lives.

“In this light, it is my hope that midwives will provide personal, loving education and competent obstetric and gynaecological care to all women, behave honourably in the performance of your duties, as well as practice professionally to patients and expectant mothers,” the Minister stressed. The eleven nurses, midwives and doctors received special kente and GTP wax prints, cooking utensils, microwaves, and citations as their