DEATH TRAP: MOTHERS DIE IN LABOUR IN LIRA

Only days after a distraught couple sued the Jinja Regional Referral Hospital over neglect that they allege caused the death of their new born baby, two women who went into labour pains and a baby died at Lira Regional Referral Hospital in similar circumstances.

Ms. Middy Acen reported at the hospital on May 27 2011 was operated on and her baby saved, but she did not live to see the infant. Another expectant mother, Ms. Eunice Acola, 30, reported on May 25, and both mother and child died three days later.

There is outcry in Lira about neglect at the hospital.
But hospital authorities deny any wrongdoing.
The Director, Dr Jane Aceng Ocero, was at first not aware of the deaths when this reporter visited her office on Tuesday but promised to cross check and pass on the information.

She later confirmed there were two deaths and not three, as earlier reported. She said the first woman, whose child was saved, came to the hospital on May 27 in second stage of labour which started from home and she was bleeding.
“She arrived at 10:10pm and it was discovered that she was in second stage of labour, anaemic and the placenta was obscuring the baby’s exit,” Dr Aceng said.

She said the woman was immediately taken to the surgical theatre and operated upon to save the child. She said the mother needed blood but there was no blood at the hospital.
The second mother came on May 25 with fever and was diagnosed with malaria in pregnancy.

Dr Aceng said she was severely anaemic but improved a bit and requested to go back home. The woman returned three days later, and was found to be severely anaemic and in shock after losing blood. The foetus was already dead, according to Dr Aceng.

Last week in Jinja, a couple sought court intervention when they suspected that their new born baby had died out of neglect by hospital staff.