"Lost my Child on my way to the Hospital"

Written by: Marian Roberts

When a woman conceives and delivers, it becomes the joy and pride of her family and the whole community in which She lives. However, the loss of a child due to inadequate health staff, health facilities, poor road network, preventable diseases and other causes is the most unthinkable.This is the ordeal of Mma Nabinsundi, a petty trader on how she lost her baby through childbirth.

Mma Nabinsundi aged 40 from, recounted how she lost her last child on her way to Zabzugu hospital when she was referred from the Kpukpalgu health center (about 15 kilometers apart) in the northern part of Ghana. According to her, when she was in labour, her husband carried her on a motorbike to Kpukpalgu, on arrival, she was examined and referred to the Zabzugu hospital because there was no midwife to attend to her. “Since the road was not good and my condition was critical, I could not sit on the motorbike anymore, so my husband went looking for a 'motor king'  (Motor tricycle) or market truck to transport me whilst he follows with his motorbike.The delay to get means of transport resulted in the loss of my child so I delivered the dead child on my way to Zabzugu” she lamented.

"I delivered the dead child on my way to Zabzugu"

Mma Nabinsundi shared her sad story when World Vision visited her community with some Members of Parliament during the Global Week of Action. She further took the opportunity to appeal to government to come to the aid of the community's health center to enable women deliver safely and have their children alive.

On his part, Honorable Joseph Yileh Chireh, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health bemoaned the status of the Kpukpalgu health center adding that it lacked so many logistics to cater for the health needs of mothers and children in the community.  He then, directed the Zabzugu District Chief Executive and his staff to look at the basic infrastructural support the health facility needs and immediately work on them for an improved and quality health service delivery.