The safe delivery of children should be a top priority for our health authorities

Dear Editor,

I am deeply upset and saddened by the news that a Guyanese woman, a mother of six, lost her life tragically during a home delivery of her baby in the North West District of Yarakita.

Such things should not happen anywhere in our country. In this day and age, we cannot allow our people to endure poor medical service, especially those who are financially challenged and live in remote areas.

This mother delivered her baby and the placenta was left in her. It is basic medical practice to make sure the placenta is expelled from a mother’s womb when she delivers a baby. The most unscientific people on earth know this and make sure that it is done.

This case brings back vivid memories of my own mother crying and screaming in her bedroom when midwives were helping her to deliver her babies. Childbirth is extraordinarily painful and stressful; mother and child need the best care and attention at that time.

Many times when I was a kid, I had to run or ride seven miles to get a nurse or midwife for my mom; sometimes at two or three o’clock in the morning. I distinctly recall that there was always someone to manage the afterbirth, clean, wash up and deal with bloodstained clothing and bedding.

It is painful to realise that in 2018, in our supposedly modern society, too many Guyanese women still do not have access to proper medical care before, during and after the delivery of babies. The safe delivery of children should be a top priority for our health care authorities. They have to do more extensive medical outreach programmes and put better systems in place across the length and breadth of Guyana to ensure that pregnant mothers and their offspring get basic medical services.

The death of the mother in such harrowing circumstances is very depressing. We need to fix this problem and do it now!

Yours faithfully,

Roshan Khan Sr