Madam Salamatu Ibrahim, Nkoranza South District Director of Health Services, has called on husbands to encourage their wives to seek medical care during pregnancy. She advised pregnant women should seek ante-natal and post-natal care after giving birth to prevent them and their babies from diseases. Madam Ibrahim was addressing more than 40 Mother and Child Support Advocates during a forum at Nkoranza, to discuss problems that pregnant women encounter. She said: “If husbands show compassion for their pregnant wives by accompanying them to the clinics, the wives would appreciate it and [it would] contribute to the development of marriage”. Madam Ibrahim advised pregnant women to attend hospital instead of relying on herbal medicine alone in order to avoid complications. She said that in 2009, a total of 2,515 supervised deliveries were recorded at health facilities in the district, and 2,602 deliveries last year. Madam Ibrahim said that the District recorded five maternal deaths in 2009 and six deaths in 2010. She asked stakeholders to help in educating pregnant women on the importance of ante-natal and post-natal clinics. She advised Traditional Birth Attendants to refer cases beyond their competence to the hospital to prevent maternal and infant deaths. Madam Ibrahim called on Community Mother and Child Support Advocates to patronize the Ambulance Transport Services wing at Saint Theresa’s Hospital at Nkoranza whenever there were complicated delivery cases for immediate attention. The participants who attended the forum said poverty and poor road network were some of the challenges facing pregnant women, and cited that some pregnant women did not have money to enable them travel to health centres. They also observed that teenage mothers refused to go to hospital for fear of being ridiculed because some hospital staff and nurses frowned and shouted at patients. Madam Ibrahim called on the Ministry of Health to intensify its supervision of health workers and nurses and urged the ministry to “weed out the bad nuts from the profession.” Source: GNA