Deyalsingh hails lowest maternal deaths in 2016

“On becoming minister, I took the personal responsibility to lead the charge to reduce maternal mortality rates in Trinidad and Tobago.” As he made the rounds of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH’s) Maternity Ward yesterday to meet the new year’s day mothers, Deyalsingh disclosed that in developed countries, there were 30 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. Trinidad and Tobago which has between 17,000 and 20,000 live births per year, the minister said, should have no more than three or four maternal deaths each year.

“And I have challenged the public health system to work with me to achieve that by 2020.

We have had no more than three or four maternal deaths. We have achieved that in 2016. So we are already at developed country status in 2016,” Deyalsingh said. He was accompanied on the hospital’s tour by South-West Regional Health Authority CEO Anil Gosine, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Krishna Rampersadsingh and nursing staff.

The Minister said that the decrease was as a result of new policies introduced into the health system, including a handover book which allows for out-going shift staff to inform in-coming staff, of what to expect on their respective ward to make for easier transitioning. The public health system also benefited from a free audit and training programme from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said Deyalsingh. The number one cause for maternal death in Trinidad and Tobago, the minister said, was post-partum haemorrhaging.

The first mother to give birth at SFGH in the New Year was Nyle Zayn Deonarine, born to Linda, 26, and her husband Vejai Deonarine, 27. Baby Nyle was born at 1.07 am. “I was at home cooking rice and shrimp on Friday when my water bag burst,” Linda, a first- time mother, said. “I called my husband and he rushed home from work to help me. I was the pregnant one but he was more panicky than me.

I told him we should wait and see how it went because I wasn’t sure. He said, ‘No! pack and let us go now!” Lind delivered via caesarian section. The first baby born at the Point Fortin Area Hospital, was Tenisha Thomas, a girl.