Members of the MamaYe Advocacy Coalition have expressed their displeasure at the increasing rate of maternal and newborn deaths in government hospitals.

The Coalition, made up of over 40 civil society organisations, raised placards at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Health Partners’ Summit to demand government’s immediate action on falling standards in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health.

Clad in white T-Shirts, the group picketed when the Acting Minister of Health, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu was introduced to give the keynote address.

The coalition, among other things, demanded that the government makes money available immediately to reduce the pressure on the facility and health workers at the Tema General Hospital in particular.

Some of the placards read: “Less talk, more action on maternal and newborn health. We’ve had it”, “It is not natural to die from pregnancy and childbirth”, and “One V8 can build a 35-bed maternity ward.”

The Tema Hospital is said to have a number of women and new born babies between January and April 2015 alone due largely to the state of the maternity unit. 

The Executive Director of the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights, Vicky T. Okine who visited the facility, expressed dismay at the deteriorated state of the facility, which manages an average of 1,000 deliveries every year.

“The condition under which our health officials work is appalling. The facility is usually overcrowded with women seeking basic obstetric care every day. One cannot ignore the visible frustration etched on the faces of the health officials. It is time for us, as a country, to ask some hard questions. Why should four women who just delivered share one bed with their four babies? In all, eight persons share one bed. It is dehumanizing.”

Ms. Okine said the situation is unbearable for the many women who seek healthcare at the facility for basic maternal health services as well as the skilled birth attendants who are breaking their backs to ensure that the women survive childbirth.

She chided politicians who are aware of the deplorable state of the hospital but have failed to address the situation in spite of the numerous promises made.

“All those politicians should be ashamed of themselves. I stand here to make an appeal on behalf of pregnant women in Ghana that if the government should ensure that the maternity ward at the Tema General Hospital is completed with dispatch. The uncompleted maternity ward has been left unattended since the country hosted the CAN 2008 tournament and our women keep dying. Pregnancy and childbirth don’t constitute a disease. Each death can be prevented,” she said.

Out of every 100,000 live births, the Maternal Mortality Inter-Agency Group reports that 380 women die. That is more than a double of the casualty recorded in the Germanwings plane crash on the French Alps in March 2015.

Ms Okine said lives of families, especially children, are disrupted and marred when a mother dies. She therefore called on government, the Finance  and Health ministries to increase investment and spending on health of women, children and adolescents.

“The cost of one V8 Toyota Landcruiser for example can build a 35-bed ward at the Tema General Hospital,” she asserted.