Still birth rises in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality

Mrs Alberta Lomotey, the Ejisu -Juaben Municipal Director of Ghana Health Service, has expressed concern about the growing incidence of still birth in the municipality.

She said neonatal deaths surged from 97 in 2011 to102 in 2012 and blamed the situation on the failure of expectant women to attend pre-maternal clinics and late arrival at health facilities for delivery.

Mrs Lomotey, who was addressing participants at the Annual Performance Review of the health directorate in the area at Ejisu, said though the rise is not that phenomenal, measures must be put in place to arrest the situation.

She appealed to health facilities in the municipality to intensify public education on the need for pregnant women to attend pre-maternal clinics to stem the tide.

Briefing participants on other diseases, she said that hypertension cases seen during the year was 1,0387 as against 1, 3459 in 2011 indicating a slight reduction, whilst diabetes cases also dropped from 4,441 in 2011 to 2,802 in 2012.

She said that the municipality recorded no guinea worm case for the last 7 years.

She commended males in the municipality for their active involvement in maternal delivery and child health care in the area and said the action had helped in reducing maternal death in the municipality.

Madam Mable Kissiwah Asafo, Ashanti Regional Health Promotion Officer, appealed to health workers in the area to make their facilities client- friendly to attract patients to their facilities.

She advised them to desist from acts that drag the name of the profession in the mud.

Source: GNA