Maternal healthcare outdated, says doctor

By Robert Nyasato

Mothers experiencing complications occasioned by injuries sustained while giving birth are suffering in silence.

Most of the mothers have been living with the complications, which can be reversed if treatment is sought, for more than 35 years, a medical camp at Kisii Level Five Hospital in collaboration with Amref was told.

During the five-day camp, which ended on Sunday, 64 mothers with vesico-vaginal fistula and recto-vaginal fistula had their conditions rectified through surgery free of charge.

The two conditions are linked to the leakage of urine and stool or both due to injury to the walls of the birth canal.

Leading a team of seven doctors from Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret, Dr Stephen Mutiso said mothers with the condition are lucky to be alive because they escaped death during delivery. Mutiso said the injuries occur when a child is bigger than the birth canal or the delivery takes long, thus compromising blood supply, which eventually leads to leakage of urine or stool.

200 years behind

He said some mothers with the conditions suffered silently because they feared social stigma.

The doctor said Kenya was 200 years behind in handling maternal issues.

He singled out the US, where a hospital that used to handle such cases was closed in 1965 because the complications were fully eradicated.

"The condition is preventable if only mothers visited medical facilities when they approach their delivery date," he said.

Mutiso added: "Most of the cases we are handling now are those where a mother tried to deliver at home, but difficulties occurred only to visit the hospital after extensive damage had occurred."

He said the overwhelming numbers of mothers who turned up for the services was an indication of poor maternal services.

Mutiso said mothers aged below 24 years were the most affected by the problem.