Maternal Mortality Drops At KATH

Dr Joseph Akpaloo addressing the staff of KATH at the meeting

Maternal mortality rate has dropped sharply at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi within the last two years following various pragmatic programmes instituted by the hospital’s management, and latest signs show that the positive trend will continue.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KATH, Dr Joseph Akpaloo, said, “From a high half year figure of 1221.62 per 100,000 live births in 2013, the figure dropped to 1119.25 per 100,000 births in 2014, then to 1077.80 in 2015 and most significantly to 791.38 per 100,000 live births during the half of 2016.”

He disclosed that the enviable feat was achieved partly as a result of the outreach programmes carried out to the peripheral hospitals in the region and beyond by KATH’s senior specialists and consultants from the Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Child Health Directorate.

Dr Akpaloo announced that the Ministry of Health (MoH) had donated a Toyota land cruiser vehicle to help facilitate KATH’s outreach programmes to the various district hospitals in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central and Western regions, commending the staff of the hospital who are spearheading the programme.

He was speaking during the 2016 mid-year performance review workshop of the hospital which was attended by departmental heads, management members, board members and other top staffers of the hospital. The event was used by the hospital to take stock of the hospital’s performance and plan for the future.

Dr Akpaloo announced also that emergency cases handled at KATH over the first half of 2016 decreased to 10,731 from 12,274 in 2015, ward admissions also declined from 20,329 in mid-year 2015 to 18,243 in mid-year 2016 and deliveries dropped from 5,103 in the half year of 2015 to 4,539 in the period under review.

He said a total of 161,317 diagnostic services were recorded at the hospital during the period under review compared to 173,916 in the same period in 2015, polyclinic OPD (primary care) fell from 34,637 in mid-year 2015 to 32,208 in the same period in 2016.

Dr Akpaloo said cases in family medicine also witnessed a decrease from 5,191 in mid-year 2015 to 4,308 over the same period, adding that the hospital also embarked on several landmark projects to help boost the infrastructural base of the hospital.

From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi