C-section births in Dominican hospitals is way too high, so is newborn deaths
The Ministry of Public Health and the National Health Service (SNS) will take immediate corrective action at the Jaime Mota Hospital in Barahona as a result of the deaths of seven newborns at the hospital last week. Health Minister Altagracia Guzmán Marcelino and the director of the National Health Service (SNS), Chanel Rosa Chupany, made the announcement following an investigation to determine if newborn care protocols were being fully applied at the hospital.
The investigation also identified problems in the clinical laboratory and the imaging department and that on the day the babies died there were no specialist doctors at the hospital. As a result, the death reports were prepared by nurses and not by doctors. It was also found that the hospital did not comply with the bio-security norms and that the clinical files did not use the basic tools for neonatal care.
The Ministry of Public Health investigation also identified the deaths occurred because medical neonatal protocols were not applied, the lack of specialists on call at the hospital 24 hours a day, absence of adequate equipment in the neonatal care areas. The Ministry announced the hospital was being intervened and new specialists would be appointed and training provided to staff, and equipping of the laboratory and neonatal area would be carried out.
The Ministry of Public Health also called attention to the high number of C-section births. These are 46% of all births in public hospitals and 87% in private hospitals. The World Health Organization standard is 10%.
Source: DR1, Almomento
May 5, 2018
Category: DR News |