THE shortage of staff at Zambia’s flagship healthcare institution, the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), has deteriorated to a level where three to four midwives are being forced to deliver 90 babies in a single day, the public relations wing has confirmed.
Officials have partly blamed expecting mothers who have been rushing to the referral hospital leaving clinics in their communities, which have operational maternity wings.
Speaking in an interview in Lusaka, UTH public relations manager Pauline Mbangweta said midwives at the maternity ward are overwhelmed with the patient burden resulting in compromised service delivery.
“This situation is compounded by self-referrals. Pregnant mothers come to deliver at the University Teaching Hospital instead of their local clinics because they say here, they are guaranteed of being attended to by a doctor,” she said.
She said the women, who prefer to deliver at the main hospital, compound work for the midwives who should only be attending to complicated cases.
Ms Mbangweta said the country’s largest hospital has suffered a brain drain since the ‘90s when nurses began seeking greener pastures abroad.
She said to manage the workload; the hospital has engaged the services of trained part-time retired nurses.
Ms Mbangweta said she is happy that from January next year, general nurses will also train in midwifery to help alleviate the crisis at the institution.
She was speaking in the wake of an uproar sparked by confusion surrounding a baby born to Priscilla Nyondo, and who later died but the body was found with two different name tags.
Ms Nyondo refused to bury the baby insisting on a DNA test to ascertain its true parentage.
Ms Mbangweta said one tag on the baby’s forehead bore its correct names while the wristband bore the surname of the doctor who attended to it.
She said the names were recorded by a nurse who she believes was fatigued as a result of being overworked.
Ms Mbangweta urged mothers to deliver at the nearest clinics to ease the burden on the few midwives at UTH.
Meanwhile UTH recorded has 15 christmas babies. Misozi Mwanza’s baby was the first Christmas baby delivered at 00:05 hours at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka. UTH public relation manager Pauline Mbangweta said the hospital had recorded 15 Christmas babies, nine of them males. Ms Mwanza’s baby is one of the six females.
And Livingstone has recorded three Christmas babies, two girls and a boy. Ms Precious Muayanda’s baby boy, weighing 4.2 kilogrammes, was born at 01:25 at Maramba Clinic, while Ms Lydia Mulilo’s baby girl was born at 06.25 hours.
Ms Louisa Malambo’s baby girl was born at 06:30 at Livingstone General Hospital. Hospital officials said both mothers and babies are in good condition and will be discharged soon.
The Livingstone City Council donated Christmas hampers to the babies.
Speaking shortly after the donation, Livingstone mayor Aggrey Njekwa said, “It is always wonderful to receive new borns on Christmas in the city.” He said the council appreciates the work the health workers are doing in the city.“We appreciate the services that are being rendered to the health sector in the city,” Mr Njekwa said.
And Livingstone district health principal nursing officer Mutinta Chika said the health sector appreciates its partnership with the council. “Among the gifts are baby hampers, baby bathing dishes, baby towels, nappies, just to mention a few,” Ms Chika said.
And Minister of Health Joseph Kasonde yesterday visited Christmas babies at the UTH and said safe motherhood is one of Government’s priorities. Dr Kasonde said anyone with ideas on how to enhance safe motherhood should forward them to the Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, Ms Mbangweta has said UTH recorded a total of 57 casualties during Christmas, 17 road accidents, 26 assault cases and 14 other injuries.
And Zambia Army Commander Paul Mihova has urged army officers to be professional and remain steadfast in 2012 as they serve the country.
Lieutenant-General Mihova said when he presented Christmas gifts to seven patients at Arakan Barracks Camp Hospital in Lusaka yesterday that army officers should focus on serving the country.
“I want to wish officers, men and women in uniform and their families a happy Christmas and prosperous 2012 but I also want to urge the officers not to be partisan. We must be professional because we are a professional army,” Gen Mihova said.
He said officers should ensure that the country’s security is maintained.
Gen Mihova said Zambians count on the efforts of the army and other defence wings to maintain peace. He said peace is an important aspect of Zambia and the army should ensure that the country’s peace is safeguarded.
The army commander urged army officers to remain loyal to the government of the day. Gen Mihova also said the army has a planned programme for officers who passed out last week. They will be deployed to various stations where they will continue with their training and preparations for national duties.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
A LOT OF ISSUES IN THIS ARTICLE BUT IMPORTANT. NURSES ARE FEW IN ZAMBIA BECAUSE ENROLLMENT COMPLICATED AND OF ALL THE COLLEGES IN ZAMBIA, NURSES TRAINING INSTITUTIONS ARE LIMITED TO A SMALL NUMBER OF STUDENTS. PEOPLE HAVE GOOD G12 RESULTS, PASS THE INTERVIEWS BUT ARE LEFT OUT BECAUSE THEY CAN’T GET A LOT. HOW ARE WE GOING TO HAVE THEM IF WE CAN’T TRAIN THEM?
WELCOME CHRISTMAS BABIES. THE 4.2 BABY BOY: HEY ARE BIG AND BOUNCY, HOPE YOU DIDN’T HURT YOUR MOM BADLY. LOOKING TO HAVING A BABY.
I teach nurses and if only the govt could increase their salaries, am sure we can have a big pool of nursing satff in the country. Hon Kambwili’s wife ran away from peanut salary and she is in UK. Let the minister bring back his wife and work in Zambia. They will keep on going abroad for more food on the table. WAPYA MUNZI.
Why mothers rush to UTH is because of the care the nurses give there. In clinics am telling try to visit labour wards, it so shameful. mothers are being treated at if they made a big sin to become pregnant. Believe me, my next baby am gonna have it from uth or levys hospital.
‘Three Midwives deliver 90 babies in a single day’ at UTH. That is gross exaggeration Pauline. It is either she is ignorant or she does not understand what goes on in labour wards.Are you a mother Pauline? Is she saying 90 babies are born at UTH every day. How long does labour last? How many beds are in the labour ward? Come on, do not exaggerate to get sympathy!!! Sort out the baby name mix up, without giving us hopeless statistics…
It’s all down to the money honey!! It’s not rocket science….
#4, you are ignorant, these midwives monitor even 10 women in labour simultaneously. Third stage of labour is not that long and its possible to deliver 20-30 alone in a day. I have worked at UTH labour ward and personally delivered upto 10 per day….so even if this is exaggerated its still within the true picture. Could you please apologise for your comments.
Why Zambians multiply when they are poor is beyond me
I am glad I am not marrying an African Man. I really do not get turned on , or see any good thing in Zambian men I have tried and I have passed that stage, so perhaps I should not be worrying
Thanks
MUSHOTA YOU DO NOT DESERVE AN AFRICAN MAN AND YOU SOUND VERY DESPERATE I THINK YOU HAVE BEEN BRAIN WASHED BY THE FLAG NEXT TO YOUR NAME. I WONDER WHY YOU ARE NOT ANSWERING A BRITISH NAME COLONISED BY THEM AND STILL ATTRACTED TO THEM. IF OUR COPPER PRICE WAS NOT DETERMINED BY YOUR BOYFRIENDS GRANDFATHERS WE WOULDN T BE AS POOR AS YOU DESCRIBE US TO BE. AM GLAD YOU SAY U SHOULDN’T BE WORRYING. ZAMBIAN MEN INCLUDES ALL MEN IN ZAMBIA I WONDER WHICH FAMILY YOU CAME FROM.:(:(:(
so 3 midwives to 90 babies a day…yet only 15 christmas babies???
which one is it,
# 6 So it is possible for midwife to deliver 20-30 babies per day according to you ( I suppose you are a midwife). What is the problem with UTH then? Get on with the work of delivering babies if that is so easy! Pardon my ignorance, I thought it is demanding work, I was wrong and I am sorry. It is like ‘pop out’ then next please and next please! Too many midwives would mean too many babies… 3 midwives=90 babies therefore 10 midwives=300 babies???
Lol, it is, yes! but obviously the quality of service becomes poorer as the numbers increase. And that contributes to high lvels of maternal and infant mortality.
The problem with UTH is inadequate levels of staffing…….
I am not a midwife, would be happy to be one though. I only worked there when i was a pre-reg doctor
Ba zed twasebana. please ba govt do something about this. When Ministers like Konga who do jack can be paid so much money to buy hammers and yet health professionals and other key workers get peanuts whats to stop them from going for greener pastures. This has gone on for decades and yet there is no solution, what do you expect? All the fat pay cheques you give to all those big bellied ministers could go a long way at these hospitals in providing staff and better care. Enough is enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nkhani yo Chindana ibwelesa kubala ana. Too much live piping pa ZED, 90 BABIES PER DAY AT UTH? munasheko ukutomba,
REPLY TO MUSHOTA ON HER VIEWS, MY DEAR YOU DO NOT DESERVE AN AFRICAN MAN.WE ARE NOT POOR BECAUSE WE CHOOSE TO, BESIDES IF YOU KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON YOU WOULDN’T MAKE SUCH A COMMENT, BUT I GUESS THE FLAG NEXT TO YOUR NAME IS CONFUSING U.ACTUALLY OUR COPPER PRICE IS STILL DETERMINED BY YOUR BOYFRIEND’S GRANDFATHERS. AM GLAD YOU SAID ZAMBIAN MEN SO THAT INCLUDES YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS TOO.I WONDER IF YOU WERE BROUGHT UP IN A HOME OR A HOUSE. PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU SAY SOMETHING ,YOU ARE STILL ANSWERING A ZAMBIAN NAME.
#9 your views are reasonable. its not the problem of enrolling nurses its the problem money.
That gyn dept has the most useless ” consultants” pa UTH, they come in the morning for their handover that lasts an hour or so and then they dissapear, theres loads of them , getting govt salaries for doing no work. By the way some of those midwives have ended up contracting HIV and hepatitis from these patients with no compensation from govt.