It is a common sight to see our churches and religious institutions filled with pregnant women who are seeking the face of God for safe delivery. Despite the advance in time and technology, pregnancy in this part of the world can still be a death sentence. Maternal mortality in Africa remains relatively high. We can all recollect how a neighbour, a friend, or a relative lost her life tragically after or during delivery. It’s a particularly sad scene if the baby too does not survive. I have written extensively about our health institutions, which I honestly believe are anemic (apologies to the few outstanding ones). Almost on a daily basis, a woman loses her life while bringing forth a new one, as if that is normal. Last week, a former classmate lost her life in such fashion. Anita was in her mid-twenties, newly married and had her whole life ahead of her. Perhaps the only mistake she did was to get pregnant. An activity that should be celebrated ended her life abruptly. Unfortunately, Anita will not be the last person to suffer this fate. Many more mothers are going to go down this way until we, as a country, get our priorities right. What we refer to as an ambulance service in Ghana could best be a described as a crap service with all due respect. Who hasn't seen a pregnant woman being rushed to the hospital in a taxi cab? So right from the word go, there are bound to be complications. Even in hospitals where there are ambulances, they are barely used in referrals. How much more being dispatched to go in search of a dying patient? It’s not for the beauty of ambulances that the law stipulated that they should be used in times of emergency. Their purpose is to render first-aid service while the patient is being transported to the health facility. Unfortunately, pregnant women do not get this service, but rather have to grimace in pain in the back seats of taxis or, if they are fortunate, a private car. How can I be surprised that Ghana is lagging behind in meeting the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 which deal with the reduction of under-five infant mortality and maternal mortality respectively by 2015? MDG 4 aims at reducing by two-thirds, from 1990 to 2015, the under-five mortality rate while MDG 5 is targeting the reduction of maternal mortality by three-quarters within the same period. Ghana’s maternal mortality rate is about 451 per 100,000 live births. This is way off the MDG target of185 per 100,000 live births. Ghana cannot be a serious country with statistics like this. And those who are quick to argue that other countries have a worse record and so we should be content are themselves not serious either. The behaviour of our leaders is akin to a dying patient who has been given a prescription by a physician but does not want to go through the regime. They have always had the antidote to our problems. According to our Minister of Health, Ms. Sherry Ayitey, to reduce maternal mortality, Ghana should train more midwives who are in limited supply across the country. You see where our problem is coming from? It is some sort of leadership paralysis. People who are paid to get the job done take glory in coming to tell us the problem that needs to be solved. The Minister revealed that Ghana is faced with a severe shortage of midwives, because with the age of those in practice averaging 54 years, we have a situation where about 90 per cent of midwives will retire from active service within the next six years. It is sometimes amazing the leadership we have, but there’s nothing much we can do about such people. In the same vein, however, we have to laud former President J.A. Kufuor’s free maternal health care policy – a step in the right direction, especially in areas where it has become expensive to seek maternal health care. In many more poor districts of this country, maternal health care is an expensive venture. Many mothers shy away from hospitals only to deliver at home. In some instances, the cases are only referred to health institutions when something goes wrong. While it’s true that part of the problem has to do with human attitude, it is also worth noting that the loss of faith in health institutions is what has caused many women to take their destiny in their own hands when they get pregnant. Indeed, it is common to find many pregnant women seeking refuge in churches and the likes just to pray for a safe delivery. To them, getting pregnant could as well be a life-threatening event. They can’t trust the health system with their lives; hence they besiege the Supreme Being to safeguard their lives and that of their unborn babies. And while we work towards achieving the MDG 5, let us know that such achievement cannot be gained on a silver platter. We must invest heavily in our health system, particularly in human resources. We should also focus on the rural health delivery system. Healthcare must not be a privilege but a right. Email: abbeykwei@gmail.com The writer is the author of Rhythms of Thoughts, a column published in the Weekend edition of the Business and Financial Times (B&FT).