Expectant mothers flock in droves to Kenyan hospital for maternal services

Best-performing Dr John Kibosia has been involved in a serious programme of injecting suitable reforms in the hospital, located in the expansive Rift Valley province of this East African nation

The number of expectant mothers seeking maternal services in Kenya's Eldoret Moi Teaching and Referral hospital (MTRH), has of late shot up astronomically, with the hospitals management declaring that it has effectively put in place measures to contain the unusual upsurge.

Maternity fees

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital Dr John Kibosia, the number of expectant women flocking to the hospital for treatment has increased three-fold, thanks to the recent popular directive by president Uhuru Kenyatta to waive maternity fees for expectant women in Kenya.

Addressing the media sometimes back, Dr Kibosia stated that hundreds of women have greatly benefited from the waiver ever since the directive was issued.

“Scores of women we have assisted have had normal delivery, while others have been assisted through caesarian section free-of-charge,” explained Dr Kibosia.

He reiterated that the hospital is committed to implementing the president's directive, adding that the initiative was bound to drastically curtail maternal deaths and other complications after birth.

Only 40 per cent of expectant mothers in Kenya deliver at certified health facilities. This explains why maternal deaths are still high.

Reforms

Best-performing Dr Kibosia has been involved in a serious programme of injecting suitable reforms in the hospital, located in the expansive Rift Valley province of Kenya.

The articulate hospital boss has been committed to injecting reforms at the health institution ever since taking over from his predecessor prof Haroun Mengich, who was associated with a lackluster performance through and through.

The prosaic prof Mengich fell from grace over two years back, amidst widespread charges of nepotism and mismanagement of public affairs.

But prof Mengich was way past the retirement age, and his exit long overdue, until he was replaced by Dr Kibosia.

Reform-minded technocrat

Dr. Kibosia- reputed as a reform-minded technocrat, has served in various parastatals as a CEO for many years, and has been committed in public service delivery.

Dr Kibosia states that the Eldoret Moi Teaching and Referral hospital has braced itself for the upsurge in the number of expectant mothers.

“We have already started training more nurses and building capacities with other local health facilities to ease pressure at the referral hospital,” said Dr Kibosia.

The hospital has a bed capacity of over 112 for mothers and babies.

Dr Kibosia who has embarked on a serious reform programme of the hospital, indicated that the institution was striving to overcome the challenge of dealing with complicated deliveries that could hinder admission of more maternity patients.

Large facility

The Eldoret Moi Teaching and Referral hospital is one of the largest health institutions in Kenya, serving patients not only from the Rift Valley region, but also from Nyanza and Western regions of this East African nation.

It is also currently serving patients from such neighboring countries as Uganda and South Sudan.

The hospital already offers varied specialized services mainly to patients referred from other hospitals.

The hospital's expansion is set to curtail the number of patients seeking medical services at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi- Kenya's capital city.

Hundreds of patients countrywide usually flock to the Kenyatta hospital for treatment.

The Eldoret Moi Teaching and Referral hospital is among public institutions in Kenya which use the ICT in health care service provision.

The hospital has already taken to training its doctors and clinical officers on ICT use.

Dr Kibosia has disclosed that the ICT has made it possible for the hospital to increase its money collection to more than k sh 60 million.

The impressive money collection system that has improved operations at the health facility, has invited rounds of applause from patients and residents of Kenya's Rift Valley province.

Creativity

A determined and visionary Dr Kibosia is engrossed in exploring deeper levels of creativity and finer ways of making the Eldoret Moi Teaching and Referral hospital a success story not only in Africa but the world at large.

Studies

In many developing countries, studies indicate that complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age.

A woman dies from complications from child birth approximately every minute.

According to the World Health Organization, in its World Health Report 2005, poor maternal conditions account for the fourth leading cause of death for women worldwide, after HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

Most maternal deaths and injuries are caused by biological processes, not from diseases, which can be prevented and have been largely eradicated in the developed world such as postpartum hemorrhaging, which causes 34 per cent of maternal deaths in the developing world but only 13 per cent of maternal deaths in developed countries.

Although high-quality, accessible health care has made maternal death a rare event in developed countries, where only 1 percent of maternal deaths occur, these complications can often be fatal in the developing world because single most important intervention for safe motherhood is to make sure that a trained provider with midwifery skills is present at every birth, that transport is available to referral services, and that quality emergency obstetric care is available.

In 2008 342,900 women died while pregnant or from childbirth worldwide. Although a high number, this was a significant drop from 1980, when 526,300 women died from the same causes.

This improvement was caused by lower pregnancy rates in some countries; higher income, which improves nutrition and access to health care; more education for women; and the increasing availability of “skilled birth attendants”-people with training in basic and emergency obstetric care to help women give birth.

The situation was especially led by improvements in large countries like India and China, which helped to drive down the overall death rates. In India, the government started paying for prenatal and delivery care to ensure access, and saw successes in reducing maternal mortality, so much so that India is cited as the major reason for the decreasing global rates of maternal mortality.

One specific disease that causes significant maternal health problems is HIV/AIDS. Mother to child transmission of HIV in the developing world is a large concern; approximately 45 percent of infected mothers transmit the disease to their children and HIV is a major cause of maternal mortality, causing 60,000 maternal deaths in 2008.

Maternal mortality

HIV rates are especially high in Sub-Saharan and Eastern Africa, where maternal mortality rates are on the rise.

Maternal health problems also include complications from childbirth that do not result in death. For every woman who dies during childbirth, approximately 20 suffer from infection, injury, or disability

Almost 50 percent of the births in developing countries still take place without a medically skilled attendant to aid the mother, and the ratio is even higher in South Asia.

Women in Sub-Saharan Africa mainly rely on traditional birth attendants (TBAs), who have little or no formal health care training. In recognition of their role, some countries and non-governmental organizations are making efforts to train TBAs in maternal health topics, in order to improve the chances for better health outcomes among mothers and babies.

Reviews

[EVANS KANINI]

The story was based on the reality on the ground

[EVANS KANINI]

Thanks Bryant for your comments. Nice day!