I was taught Obstetrics and Gynaecology by doyens of the profession, tutelage that has resulted in lifelong friendships. One fact that has occupied space in my memory is that maternal mortality in our teaching hospital was worse at the end of my teacher’s forty-year illustrious career than when he joined the hospital two decades earlier.
One message has never changed – development and education of the girl-child remain the bedrock of maternal health. I have nothing but admiration for my O&G and general surgical colleagues who continue to save mothers and babies when the natural process of parturition is halted by seen and unseen factors.
It seems only like yesterday when as a Radiology Registrar in a previous life, my wife who had until then enjoyed the journey towards being a first-time mother (in 1996) was informed she would be booked for elective Caesarian section. She went into labour a week earlier and had an “Emergency C/S” … well, somewhere between emergency and elective. It involved being given a list of items for surgery including cotton wool, swabs, syringes, delivery pack, etc. in a tertiary hospital. With the support of family and friends, we gathered everything in good time.
Unfortunately, the baby girl’s leg was stuck too far down the birth canal and she was born with a fractured right femur. The following day, doctors went on strike and all patients had to be discharged from the wards. So my little baby had her right leg hanging up her baby cot back home. The rest as the saying goes is history.
Fast forward 2016: High School WhatsApp Chat room: [13/12 22:19] “We got a woman who came in about 5pm with retained 2nd twin after she had delivered the first at home. And how is the 2nd twin presenting? Wait for it……… Hand! The hand was sticking out of the Vulva and baby was no longer alive. We asked for a pint of blood for the Surgery, relations had only 5K [£10], frustrating. Not interesting to do Surgery at night in Naija. After 3 frustrating hours I went to the ward around 8.30pm to ask for the patient only for the Nurses to tell me she had pushed the baby out!!!!!
[13/12 22:28] One appeared today with an 8 day old baby. I asked what’s the problem she said she had a tear 8 days ago when she delivered. I examined, she has a 3rd degree Perineal tear. I check her note, she was a booked patient diagnosed with Transverse lie at 39 weeks, she was booked for Emergency C/S with my Consultant Obstetrician maybe she never showed up.
If you’re still reading then you must be interested. As an entrepreneur, if you were given a failing business called Maternal Health plagued by high Maternal Mortality, how will you turn it around and make it profitable for mothers , their babies, the family and society at large?
Remember, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” (Jessie Potter).
Abiye Hector-Goma
Partner, Allerton Medical Centre, Leeds, U.K.