adminRoselyne Sachiti Features, Health and Society
Last week, Sharon Munyonho, a young woman, died in labour following hours of pain while admitted at Mbuya Nehanda, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
Her baby also died.
Reports said Munyonho had started complaining of labour pains the previous evening.
She had been induced to go into labour in the afternoon when she started having contractions, but was only taken to the labour ward around 2am, from which she did not receive any service until 6am.
She was found dead last Sunday morning, her dead child between her legs.
On Tuesday, The Herald carried a story which detailed how lack of proper power back up facilities at council polyclinics resulted in at least four stillbirths and one maternal death between January and July this year.
This was a result of Harare City Council dragging its feet on the provision of proper power back-up facilities, forcing nurses to use cellphone torches during delivery.
Mbare, Hatcliffe and Kuwadzana were reported as the most affected areas, as their solar systems sometimes fail to provide adequate lighting, especially in early morning, particularly on cloudy days.
City of Harare Health Services director Dr Prosper Chonzi told The Herald: “In Mbare, a baby was born with mucus blocking its nasal passage, and since there was no electricity, the mucus could not be sucked out, leading to death of the baby.
“In another case, a baby was born with the umbilical cord tied around the neck and due to lack of lighting, the umbilical cord could not be untied on time. There are also four maternal mortality cases recorded, but three of them were already dead when they arrived at our clinics, while one passed away while giving birth.”
Just some of the heart breaking cases of maternal deaths recorded in Zimbabwe this year. Maternal mortality is defined as death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), although Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) for Zimbabwe has declined from 960 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010 to 614 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2014, it is still unacceptably high.
The sad reality is most cases are due to negligence or to inadequate resources in the case of the City of Harare power shortages.
More worrying is that nurses who neglected the woman clearly had no compassion for another human being, moreover a female who they saw in extreme pain and chose to do nothing. What happened at Mbuya Nehanda maternity wing where the majority of nurses are women is quite deplorable.
What goes on in their minds knowing they left another woman to die unattended with a baby between her legs – two deaths at one goal? Even if salaries are low, there is need to put human life above everything. Every life matters.
What healthcare providers should remember is that their profession is a calling. Yes, salaries are currently not adequate, but proper channels should be used to ask for better pay. The route of negligence is no way out.
No woman should lose life giving birth and what has been happening is insanely inhuman.
All the nurses and related staff on duty should be held accountable and how the issue is dealt with should be a strong deterrent to many others. We can do better as a society and as a country if our global commitments are anything to go by.
The worrying maternal deaths come at a time as the year 2019 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Implementation of ICPD Programme of Action which was adopted in Cairo Egypt in 1994.
The watershed Cairo agreement has been the cornerstone of the global reproductive rights movement for the past 25 years. At the Cairo meeting, Zimbabwe was one of the 179 governments that adopted a revolutionary Programme of Action (POA) and called for women’s reproductive health and rights to take centre stage in national and global development efforts.
The Cairo meeting also brought out the link between reproductive health and women’s empowerment and how the two are necessary for the advancement of society. ICFP serves as a strategic inflection point for the family planning and reproductive health community worldwide.
Online Reporter