Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr Henry Madzorera, said the move will go a long way in ensuring that maternal mortality rate is reduced in all the public health institutions. It is our priority as the ministry to look into the health and well being of women during pregnancy to preserve lives, he said.
Dr Madzorera said the programmed is donor funded and the ministry is still appealing to more donors to support the initiative. What we are hoping is more funding to keep the programme going, said Dr Madzorera. Dr Madzorera said the blood programme is not new as the ministry had been working hand in hand with the National Blood Services in
implementing it using the coupon system.
We have been buying coupons at the National Blood Service and the hospitals use them to redeem blood, said Dr Madzorera. He said they are also working tirelessly to prevent Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT). About 25 percent of pregnant woman die because of HIV/AIDS and in the process we will be treating the mother as well, he said. Dr Madzorera assured expectant mothers that the problem of accommodation would be a thing of the past as the ministry is working on rectifying the problem.
We want to avail homes which will be strictly for the waiting mothers, he said. He said the purpose of these homes is to prevent the first and second delay that usually takes place due to lack of proper waiting homes for the expectant mothers.
The first delay is when a woman has to make a decision to seek medical treatment and the second delay is the accessibility of transport to ferry the women to seek medical attention in the case of those who stay far away from medical centers, he said.
The Minister said that the other step they are working on is to scrape off user fees for pregnant women. Having noticed that there seems to be a high mortality rate among pregnant women and we attribute it to the expensive user fees that are
charged at the Health institutions, therefore they shall soon be accessing that for free, said Dr Madzorera.
He said they are going to ensure that there are qualified personnel at all health institutions from district level. Every health centre should at least have a mid-wife to assist the expectant mothers in case of any complications, he said. Dr Madzorera said they hold monthly meetings to make a review on the deaths that would have taken place. Each case is usually investigated and we want to find out whether it was shortage of blood or just logistical problems, he said.
Post published in: Analysis