By Adama Makasuba
Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital has been hard-hit with an influx of women in need of maternal health care since the emergence of Coronavirus which causes shortage of beds for women in labour.
Women who deliver in the hospital are forced without any choice but to share a bed due to the daily overwhelming of the hospital with more women seeking to give birth to new babies in the hospital.
Omar Ceesay, senior public relations officer for the Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital, linked the problem to high frequent demands for the service of the hospital by people, especially pregnant women who need maternal care.
“Basically, because it’s a very busy hospital and women from all over the places come here for services. That puts a sort of a constraint on the already existing resources. And in terms of the influx of patients who are coming is huge to an extent that our maternal services are not able to accommodate all of them,” he said.
The hospital has recorded more than 600 deliveries in September which means there is an average of 29 baby deliveries taking place as Covid-19 pushes more women to give birth at Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital.
“I think as of last September, we recorded 629 deliveries in a month so if you look at that it is an average of 29 deliveries a day,” Mr Ceesay explained.
He however proffered that in order to remedy the burden on Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital, other hospitals and health facilities across the country need to improve their services.
He added: “If other institutions can be supported to be like Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital in term of good service deliveries that is going to lift the burden on us. So, lots of women will be able to attend maternal care and services from their communities. A more sustainable solution is to replicate what is happening here because if that happens then it becomes quite easier for everyone to stay and receive healthcare from their areas.”
Despite thanking the Ministry of Health for its support to Bundung Maternal and Child, he also called for support to expand the hospital space and additional medical doctors to help improve the quality of services.
“We need support which can be material support and expanding the hospital space for it to have more delivery beds for women. And also, an antenatal ward which we don’t have here. If we have more of those facilities, that is going to take care of a lot of our issues.
“But on top of that also is to help improve the human resources especially medical doctors because we have limited medical doctors in this institution and that is putting a lot of constraints on nurses and other healthcare professionals because they find themselves doing their jobs and having to do other people’s jobs as well which is very difficult,” he said.
More so, no matter what support the Ministry give this hospital but without improving other hospitals or health centers the situation will remain the same unsolved.
Meanwhile, Amie Joof, 25, who gave birth at the hospital, described the doctors and nurses as professionals who are competent in their jobs, adding, they have humility and mercy for patients.
“When I was pregnant, I joined the Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital for safe delivery and during my pregnancy period I did not experience any difficulty at any point of their services. The nurses are willing to work and they do not hesitate to help their patients at any time. And when it was time for my delivery it went successfully thanks to the helps of the nurses who attended to me and my husband who was all along with me throughout the journey,” she said.
“I will advise all my fellow women to join the Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital because with them you’re safe,” she added.
Kaddy Sillah, 34, who gave birth to her second child, she also described the service of the hospital as good and urged the authorities to consider increasing the subvention given to the hospital.
“The hospital staffs are so friendly and they know their job. I am urging the government to give more financial support to the hospital because if they have more financial support, they will be able to address the problems at hand now,” she said.
Abdou Saine, whose wife gave birth at the hospital, suggested expanding the health facility into a bigger one to accommodate all the other community residents seeking medication.
This story was produced with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), through its Mobilizing Media in the Fight Against Covid-19 in partnership with Mai-Media and The Voice newspaper.
