The Mathias Catholic Hospital, Yeji, has in the past few years made great strides in maternal health care delivery.
The Hospital in 2018 recorded a total Antenatal attendance of 12620 as compared to 11614 in 2016 and 11919 in 2017. A total deliveries of 2257 was recorded in 2018, from 2148 in 2016 and 2103 in 2017. Maternal Mortality on the other hand was 4 in 2018, 9 in 2016 and 3 in 2017.
The year 2019 has began to witness a greater increase in these statistics because of the presence of specialist obstetrics and gynaecology services and radiological services which has made the facility the preferred destination for most pregnant woman in the catchment area. As at April 2019, total ANC attendance stood at 4136 and total deliveries at 898.
However, since its inception, the Hospital has not seen any major expansion despite the gradual increase in patient load across all service areas. The area of maternal health is no exception. These increase in patient numbers without corresponding expansion of the wards necessitated the walling-off of the corridor/walk-way behind the maternity ward to serve as an expansion of the ward. Despite these challenges of overstretched maternal health facilities/bed space in the hospital, leadership of the Hospital has introduced several measures that have resulted in significant reduction in maternal mortalities and morbidities.
Management of the Hospital has taken such measures as daily education at the antenatal clinic (ANC) and weekly radio education on the importance of antenatal care and other health related matters, Antenatal care all week long, Identification of high risk pregnancies and referral to the obstetrician gynecologist on daily basis, Provision of ANC services to the overbank communities when funds are availability, Practice of mobile midwifery services, Emergency ambulance fund started with the help of other relevant stake holders to purchase fuel for the referral of obstetric and neonatal emergencies to other facilities, Regular in-service training for midwives and medical officers on common obstetric emergencies. These trainings are done once every two weeks and this has helped to improve the management of obstetric emergencies and improved collaboration with the district health directorate resulting in the organization of quarterly training for sub district midwives.
The hospital working in collaboration with the district health directorate and other stakeholders using the mobile midwifery concept was able to pick up high risk mothers who but for the timely interventions could have suffered significant morbidity or even mortality in the year 2018.
Over the past four years, the Hospital has made attempts to build a new maternity block to cater for the needs of the increasing demands for maternity services in the catchment area. These efforts have however not materialized largely due to non-availability of funds. All public spirited individuals and organizations are encouraged to support this worthy course of building a state-of-the –art Maternity Block to cater for mothers in the catchment area.