Cabinet increasing scrutiny of maternal, infant deaths

Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday an-nounced that monthly meetings will be held with Ministry of Health (MOH) officials on every maternal death, as government continues to take steps to address the increase in numbers.

Dr Luncheon said the move is part of the “heightened monitoring of maternal deaths.” He that MoH officials will have to submit a report on every death to the cabinet sub-committee on health and also report the year-to-date deaths and the sub-committee would then report to Cabinet. “The Cabinet sub-committee will assess those deaths and reports and on the basis of those assessments make known its findings to Cabinet.  Cabinet will then provide its own directions and its own opinions and thoughts to the Ministry of Health,” Luncheon told reporters yesterday at his weekly Cabinet press briefing at Office of the President.

Meanwhile, according to Luncheon, at present there are amendments to the regulations under the Ministry of Health Act before the Cabinet sub-committee that would trigger heightened scrutiny of maternal and infant mortality. He said while there are existing regulations, it’s the scrutiny “in the context of what has happened over the last two or three months with maternal deaths” that has led to the revision.

Once adopted, it is expected that the revised regulations would make the environment within which the reviews and the examinations of maternal deaths are done “significantly tightened so that more information could be provided.”

Dr Luncheon also reiterated that the ministry will no longer be “reporting to itself” in reference to maternal and infant mortality. “It is a bit like fast forwarding access to information but essentially what it says that in terms of service contracts where the hospitals report to the ministry on the achievements and targets for the main indicators…instead of reporting to the Ministry of Health solely this information must be publicized,” Luncheon stressed.

Similarly, he said the information from the professional body appointed under the Health Facilities Licensing Act that until now was reported back to the ministry also has to go out into the public domain. “So those are the three main interventions that have been brought in as a result of the deaths over the last two or three months,” Luncheon said.

Since September, at least eight women have died during childbirth and Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who along with his colleague Dr Bheri Ramsarran were criticized by their Cabinet colleagues over the deaths, had said there was a spike in the deaths and revealed that there were 18 maternal deaths so far for the year compared to about 13 in recent years.

Late last month, Dr Luncheon had indicated that a Cabinet review process had disclosed that “there were prevalent lapses in record keeping and supervision at the administrative and professional levels.”

Last month two women lost their lives at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Marion Bristol was transferred to the GPHC from the Linden Hospital Complex and died after her baby girl was born while Monica Carmichael, who was transferred from the New Amsterdam Hospital, died after she delivered a still-born baby girl. Bristol was transferred because her baby’s heart rate was abnormal while Carmichael was transferred because her blood pressure was too high.

Prior to the deaths of Bristol and Carmichael, the other women who lost their lives since September included GPHC nurse Charlene Amsterdam who died on October 24, two days after delivering a healthy girl. On October 20, another woman, 21-year-old Yogeeta Bishram of No. 60 Village, Corentyne died early that morning at the New Amsterdam Hospital (NAH) after delivering her second child at the Skeldon Hospital. Rebekha Chinamootoo, 26, of No. 36 Village, Corentyne died in September after giving birth to a healthy baby boy via c-section at the NAH. A teenager, Nadira Sammy (16 years) of No. 69 Village who was diagnosed with high blood pressure lost her life at the NAH before giving birth.

Also in September, Aseelah Haqq, 33, of Middle Walk, Buxton, East Coast Demerara died while she was attached to a life support machine, hours after delivering her child. And Ayesha Haqq said that despite instructions from a doctor that a caesarean section be done on her sister to deliver her baby, the woman was forced to endure normal labour.