15,000 babies per year

By ZINA KOIM and JESHER TILTO
ABOUT 15,000 babies are born annually at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH), according to PNG Midwifery Society president, Sr Mary Sitaing.
“On a daily basis, we deliver between 45 to 65 babies, but the most was on April 18 with 72 babies,” she told The National.
“We had 1,587 deliveries last month.”
Sitaing is midwife in charge of the PMGH maternity ward.
She said the increasing population had affected the services of midwives around the country.
Sitaing called for more investment in midwives to address the severe shortage.
“We have a population growth rate of about three per cent, so we need more midwives to meet the demand,” she said.
“According to the World Health Organisation ratio, there is supposed to be one midwife to three women.
“We haven’t met that yet and our maternal mortality is the highest in the Pacific and third globally.”
Sitaing encouraged more women in the country to adhere to family planning methods as it can be used as a means of managing the country’s increasing population.
“Family planning is important,” she said.
“The status of family planning in PNG is very low.
“A third of married women in PNG have an unmet need for family planning, that is, they want to stop or delay child bearing but are not using any method of contraception,” she said.
Sitaing added that sexual reproduction health must be taught in schools as a means of educating the younger generation to make responsible choices.