‘Deliver like a Hebrew woman’ is the phrase normally used to say that a woman delivered without complications, most importantly, without undergoing Caesarean Section (CS).
However, medical practitioners have come to discover that the main reason many women play the “Hebrew Women” card when faced with birth-related complications is their being financially constrained.
“This is the reason we are doing what we are doing,” says Dr. Patrick Ezie, the Medical Director of Silver Cross Hospital, Abuja.
The hospital, according to the doctor, has commenced a programme called the ‘Safe Mother Project’ which was initiated to cater to pregnant women in various communities who cannot afford quality healthcare services, and it includes antenatal care, delivery, and CS (for those with complications).
“We started with ten women from the communities. What we did was to appoint a coordinator from the community. She was pregnant herself, at the time. So, we told her to get us ten women who cannot afford the services in Guidna, Kabba, Kagini, and the environs.
“For the first batch, we did it for free. Out of the first ten women, we did CS for four of them including the coordinator, all for free,” he explained.
The second batch of ten women, Ezie disclosed, received the services at half the cost.
“We are starting up another batch of ten women who would receive our services for free again. From time to time, we increase the number. It is a constant project which we will be doing at the hospital,” he stated.
Speaking on the reason for initiating the project, the doctor said, “the reason is that we don’t want women who need CS to die from complications or to lose their pregnancy as a result of bankruptcy.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that Maternal Mortality remains a key issue affecting women of reproductive age across the African Region.
Despite the global decline in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) between 2000 and 2020, WHO says the mortality rate is still a ‘disaster’ in the African Region.
Maternal mortality refers to the death of a woman during pregnancy within 42 days after abortion, irrespective of the duration and place of the pregnancy, and from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or unintentional cause.
Causes of maternal mortality include severe bleeding (mostly after childbirth), infections (usually after childbirth), high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), complications from delivery, and unsafe abortion.
According to WHO, in 2020, Nigeria was among the three countries categorized for extremely high maternal mortality rates with 1,047 per 100,000 live births. This, according to stakeholders in the sector, calls for urgent action.
Ezie agrees with the WHO that there is the urgent need for intervention on issues bordering on maternal mortality.
He explained how a woman lost her pregnancy simply because she refused to undergo a CS, adding that such a scenario is what the hospital is striving to avert.
“It was a prolonged labour and we told her she needed a CS. She opted out and went to another hospital where they told her the same thing. By the time she came to a conclusion, the baby had died and she still had the CS.
“That’s what women need to understand. Once you are in need of a CS, if you have it and the baby is alive, it is a plus. If you waste time, you will lose that baby and still have the CS because nobody will try to bring out a dead baby through the normal process. It is much more traumatic for the surgeon because he will have to crush the skull and break the bones. It is called destructive delivery,” he stated.
Ezie further noted that in the course of his practice as a medical doctor, he has come to understand that most pregnant women who need a CS, reject it because of lack of money.
“Once the services are paid for, these women don’t have a problem with the choice of having a CS, they will jump on it. But once there is a financial barrier, the talk about giving birth ‘like a Hebrew woman’ comes in,” he said.
The doctor also spoke of the need for hospitals to be extra careful while dealing with pregnant women because complications during pregnancy may put the life of the mother and child at risk.
“Two days ago, we had the case of a woman who was receiving treatment at a Primary Healthcare facility. She came for a scan and the result showed that the baby was dead for one week. I asked her when last she went for an antennal care and she said ‘last week.’ I asked what they told her at the hospital and she said they told her that the baby was moving and that they were not sure, and all that. She was not referred to any hospital.
“It was when she started having discharges that she decided to come to the hospital. She even came because she had a wound on her leg and her date had passed. She wanted a normal delivery, but I told her that from my own experience, a bad leg would not allow her to push the baby.
“There are a lot of manipulations that go with giving birth. So, we decided to do a scan, and that was when we found out that there was no heart beat. We asked her to go and do another scan to get a second opinion, and she came back with the same result. We had to do an emergency CS to bring out the baby, and it happened that the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. It was a male child. She had two females and was looking for a male,” he narrated.
Ezie, who disclosed that his hospital, in partnership with an international organisation (Marie Stopes International) has started free contraception services for women, expressed hope that more partners will support him in reaching out to more indigent pregnant women.
“Sustainability is often a problem with nice projects like this, but we believe that if we can get it to work very well and get more people to partner in it, it will become a sustainable project. We already have the facility and skills,” he stated.
Speaking to THE WHISTLER, one of the beneficiaries of the project and the community coordinator, Salamatu Zechariah, stated that the initiative has assisted the women and made life easier for them.
Zechariah, who stated that she had lost two children due to complications from childbirth, expressed deep gratitude for the life-saving services rendered her by the hospital.
“This is my sixth baby. But two died. They died in the womb before I was able to deliver them. The hospital tried for this baby. If it wasn’t for this hospital, wahala for dey oo. I don’t know how I would have done it. There was no money then.
“During the surgery, everything went well. I was able to sit. The following day, I stood and was walking around. The first surgery I did in another hospital, I had to stay three days before I was able to stand,” the 31 years old mother of four stated.
Another beneficiary, Miracle Mishak, also expressed gratitude for the hospital’s kind assistance, adding that through their timely intervention, they not only saved her life and that of her baby, but also renewed her hope in humanity.
The 32 year-old-mother of four had this to say: “The last time I gave birth, I spent over N50,000. But here, I didn’t spend anything. From antenatal till birth. I am grateful to the doctor. He is saving lives here. They did not fail me and I got it for free.”
Hospital Making Life-Saving CS Affordable For Financially Constrained Women is first published on The Whistler Newspaper