Moruca gets new maternal, child health facility

Expectant mothers residing in the Moruca sub-district, Region One will now benefit from a new maternal and child health centre at the Kumaka District Hospital.

The well-equipped health facility was commissioned by Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony on Wednesday, during an outreach to the district.

“We started from a point where we had a lot of maternal deaths or complications, and we are at a point now where, for the last two years, we did not have any maternal death here and that’s a big accomplishment,” Minister Anthony noted.

The minister stressed the need to address all issues concerning healthcare in the area, noting that pregnant women travelling during labour for proper care was one of the main concerns for the ministry, hence the fast move to establish the medical post.

“One of the things that we were able to do in the ministry is that next to each one of our hospitals. We are building waiting homes so before you go into labour, you can come to the waiting home. You stay there for a little bit and then once you go into labour you can go safely into the hospital,” Dr Anthony explained.

The health minister said this allows for safer births and fewer complications.

He noted too that although bleeding posed a challenge, only one fatality occurred due to post-partum complications in the region over the last two years.

The reduction of these maternal hiccups was achieved by building a strong healthcare system, adding community health workers to far-flung communities, and ensuring traditional birth attendants (TBA) are trained.

“We don’t want to accomplish this on the coastland of Guyana and not in the interior communities of Guyana. We want the services to be equal across the country and that’s what we are working towards. I’m very happy that we can see significant progress made in a relatively short period and with the kinds of investments that we have been putting in, we would see much more changes happening,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the new maternal and child health facility will service the entire subregion that has 18 medical facilities, including the Kumaka District Hospital, the health centres at Kewbana, and 15 health posts.