Hagen doctor says mothers dying daily

FOUR mothers die every day in Papua New Guinea through complications in pregnancy and child birth according to gynaecology registrar at the Mt Hagen Provincial Hospital Dr Jeffery Tore.
Tore said this while talking about safe motherhood during an outside broadcast show on Radio Western Highlands last Wednesday.
“The best way to reduce or prevent these deaths from occurring is for mothers to go on family planning to stop or plan future pregnancies,” he said.
The radio show, on safe motherhood, was sponsored by Unicef and held for two hours from midday at the main bus stop at Banz town, Jiwaka.
Tore told a huge crowd the chances of mothers’ dying started from the time they were pregnant to the time they went into labour and six weeks after
delivery.
He said if they did not get pregnant, they would not die from such
complications.
“Some of these maternal deaths could be avoided if the mothers went for supervised delivery at a health facility or if they did not have too many babies,” he said.
He said every time a mother was pregnant, her chances of dying increased and he urged husbands and wives to go for family planning and plan their family without placing too much burden on the mother.
Tore said family planning was a free service provided by the public health system and people should use that to the fullest to ensure a healthy family.
Representatives on the panel with Tore included, Dr Justin Yanga from the Mt Hagen Provincial Hospital, Sr Jenny Walep, a North Waghi district health officer and representatives from the Western Highlands provincial health authority.

The others included Jiwaka acting provincial administrator, Tokana Hasavi and representatives from Susu Mamas, Marie Stopes and the Provincial AIDS Council.
Hasavi said health and education were his administration’s priorities and he would ensure their run-down facilities were maintained.
He said he had met with his public servants and advised them to “connect with the people” and find out exactly what was needed so that services would flow.
He thanked the Western Highlands provincial administration and the provincial health authority for their continued support in the areas of administration and health.
He said that support would continue until Jiwaka was able to manage its own affairs.