Saint Mary Theresa Hospital records zero maternal mortality for three consecutive years

Dr. Victory Ametepe, the Medical Director of St. Mary Theresa Hospital, says the Hospital has recorded zero maternal mortality for the years 2021, 2022, and mid-year of 2023.

He attributed this success story to good stakeholder collaboration, excellent maternal care for prevention and timely treatment of complications, and teamwork among staff in the hospital.

Dr. Ametepe made this disclosure at the Mid-year Performance Review Meeting of the Kadjebi District Directorate of the Ghana Health Service at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

For under five-year death, he said, 8 were recorded in the same period, 6 in 2022 and 17 in 2021, while infant deaths were 8 during the period, 4 in 2022, and 11 in 2021.

On stillbirth, Dr. Ametepe said, 8 cases were recorded as of mid-year 2023, while 2022 and 2021 recorded 13 cases each and that the fresh stillbirth was 3 in 2023, 4 in 2022, and 2 in 2021.

The Medical Director says on supervised delivery, they were 337 deliveries as of mid-year 2023, 352 in 2022, and 383 in 2021, while that of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) was zero for both years 2023 and 2022, whereas six TBA deliveries were recorded in 2021.

He said ANC registration within the period under review was 211 in 2023, 229 in 2022, and 310 in 2021, while mothers with a fourth ANC visit were 197, 177, and 181, respectively.

Damasus Ayangba, Deputy Regional Director, Administration, Oti Regional Health Directorate, commended the Hospital for being the Overall Best Performing Hospital in the Oti Region for the year 2022 and promised that the regional directorate would continue to support them with logistics.

He charged the health workers to improve their performance as service to mankind is a service to God.

Eric Nana Takyi, Kadjebi District Director of Health Services, said the mid-year performance review was meant to identify gaps and strategist how to fix them.

He said stillbirth had reduced from 18 percent in 2022 to 8 percent during the half-year of 2023, teenage pregnancy also dropped from 16 percent to 10 percent during the period and neonatal death has, however, risen to 8 percent from 2 percent in the same period.

Nana Takyi said substance and alcohol abuse were on the rise in the district and called for change, saying, if not, mental health challenges would shoot up.

Four individuals and two sub-districts were awarded for being the Best COVID-19 Vaccinators helping the district to achieve the 70 percent target. There were presentations from the Health Promotion, Mental Health, Public Health, Nutrition, and Disease Control Units.