Pregnant women at Kpatuli in the Savelugu Municipality of the Northern Region have been forced to give birth at home due to the lack of health centre in the community.
Those who opt for hospital birth have to travel long distances to access healthcare at the Municipal hospital.
The situation has compelled local authorities in the community to convert a teachers’ bungalow to serve as health centre to aid child delivery and care.
Kpatuli community is a farming community with a huge population. Amongst the numerous challenges facing the community is the lack of access to a healthcare centre.
As a result, women and children in the community have to walk far distances to the Municipal hospital to access maternal and child care.
Adom News’ checks from the area revealed that most pregnant women have stopped going to hospital due to the distance from their community, which according to the residents, have resulted in lost of lives and miscarriages.
A pregnant woman in the community, Issahaku Sanaatu, told Adom News’ Illiasu Abdul Rauf Dabre in an interview that to be pregnant in the community is very challenging.
Some pregnant women also recounted similar challenges and appealed for immediate solution from the government, Non-Governmental Organisations and individuals to save lives.
The Chief of the community, Naa Seidu Mohamadu, lamented that, the situation was giving him too much headache and therefore appealed to the authorities to come to his aid.
On his part, the Assembly man for the area, Issah Ruhullah, said the situation is very critical that, maternal mortality is on the rise in the area due to lack of health facility in the community.
He said he had raised several concerns about the situation at the municipal assembly meetings but the Chief Executive was yet to give it any attention.
He added that the situation has forced them to convert an abandoned teachers’ bungalow into health facility as a temporary measure to stop the death of pregnant women and children.
He has, therefore, called on their Municipal Chief Executive, Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, the Member of Parliament, Iddrisu Wunbenkpang, and other individuals to come and save the pregnant women and children in the community.