Stop attributing pregnancy-related problems to witchcraft — Dr Deganus
Religious leaders have been advised against attributing pregnancy-related health complications to spiritual causes as that could lead to the death of expectant mothers.
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Giving the advice at a maternal and newborn health stakeholders’ forum in Tema, an Obstetrics and Gynaecology Specialist at the Tema General Hospital (TGH), Dr Sylvia Deganus, said such spiritual attributions worsened conditions of pregnant women.
Dr Deganus stated that it was sad when some pregnant women refused to undergo caesarean section due to false hope their religious leaders might have given them.
She, therefore, urged religious leaders to encourage their congregants to attend antenatal clinics and immediately report any emergencies to the nearest hospital instead of keeping them at prayer camps and attributing their conditions to spiritual forces.
Expected changes
She reminded women that pregnancy would change every part of their body therefore, they must be conscious of the expected changes throughout the three trimesters of pregnancy.
The specialist also cautioned women against bleaching their skin during pregnancy as changes to the skin was part of hormonal changes during the expectant period, stressing that bleaching only aggravated their condition.
According to her, other complications brought on by pregnancy included ectopic, hypertension (pre-eclampsia), diabetes, among other medical problems.
She stressed that swellings on the face, hands and feet during pregnancy did not mean an expectant mother would have a baby boy but rather signs of severe blood pressure which could lead to sudden convulsions, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.
Dr Deganus announced that the TGH recorded about 900 miscarriages in 2016, adding that one out of every five pregnancies miscarriaged naturally.
She pleaded with pregnant women to report any discharge of blood during the expectant period, as 47 per cent of recorded maternal deaths at the TGH in 2016 were as a result of bleeding.
Twenty-seven per cent of maternal mortality were also caused by hypertension, while sickle cell and other conditions accounted for the rest. Eight of the patients were already dead before taken to the hospital.
Medical conditions
She encouraged women with medical conditions such as HIV, hypertension, sickle cell disease, diabetes, anaemia and heart diseases to seek advice from their doctors before getting pregnant as such conditions could be aggravated during pregnancy.
Dr Deganus reminded pregnant women to immediately report to the hospital when they saw any of the danger signs, which included severe headache.
Other signs are vaginal bleeding, vaginal discharge, abdominal pains, excessive vomiting, being in labour for more than 24 hours, dizziness and feeling faint.
She also cautioned pregnant women against buying wayside medicines and advised them to rather stick strictly to medications given them by their midwives and doctors.
To decongest the Maternity Ward of the THH Dr Deganus appealed to organisations and the public to help furnish a 40-bed capacity ward constructed for the hospital by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly which was yet to be fitted with the needed beds.
Meanwhile, the hospital recorded a total of 15,294 malaria cases in 2016, which was the leading cause of the TGH’s Out Patient Department (OPD) attendance.
Gynaecological conditions followed with 9,492, hypertension 6,977, acute eye condition 6,909, pregnancy-related cases 6,107, diabetic mellitu 3,071, while rheumatism and joint pains accounted for 2,268.
Other top 10 diseases were upper respiratory tract infection 2,249, road traffic accidents 1,925 and acute ear infections 1,546.