Monrovia, Nov. 24 (LINA) – The Director of Community Health Services of the Margibi County Health Team has spoken of the high rate of maternal mortality at the C. H. Rennie Memorial Hospital in Kakata, Margibi County.
Mr. James Varnie said reports of the growing number of maternal deaths at the only government referral hospital is alarming and needs to be contained before the situation gets from bad to worse.
According to the Liberia News Agency Correspondent, Director Varnie raised the alarm during a meeting with Margibi County District #3 Representative Ellen A. Attoh.
He said from January to August this year, a total of 28 maternal deaths were recorded at the hospital, with babies between one to five days old being the most affected.
As a result of the situation, the Ministry of Health has named Margibi as the county with the second highest number of maternal deaths in the country, next to Montserrado County.
Director Varnie, however, blamed the situation on mothers who are more accustomed to home or community delivery in the county.
« Many mothers are giving birth at home because they lack interest in health facilities; and many of them who give birth at home, their babies are delivered with lots of health complications, thus causing these newly-born babies to die between one to five days old, » the Director further revealed.
The C, H. Rennie Hospital, which is located in Margibi County District #3, caters to over two hundred and nine thousand persons in the county.
It currently has a total bed capacity of 85, five medical doctors, four physician assistants and more than one hundred nurses, but only 46% of them and other health workers are on government payroll, while the rest are on « incentives » that are not regular.
At the same time, the C. H. Rennie Hospital Administrator, Mulbah Saywallah, has disclosed that US$200,000 was allotted for the hospital in the 2018- 2019 national budget.
This amount, he said, is insufficient to run the hospital, noting that 50% of this amount is used only to purchase fuel to run the generator.