Dear Editor,
I AM deeply upset and saddened by the news that a Guyanese woman, a mother of six, lost her life tragically during a home delivery of her baby in the North West district of Yarakita.
I want to state publicly and unmistakably: such things should not happen anywhere in our country. In this day and age, we cannot allow our people to endure poor medical services, especially those who are financially challenged and live in remote areas.

It is hurtful to me personally that this mother delivered her baby and the placenta was left in her. It is basic medical practice to make sure the placenta is expelled from a mother’s womb after she delivers a baby. The most primitive tribes on earth know this and make sure that it is done. This case is extremely painful for me. It brings back vivid memories of my own mother bawling and screaming in her bedroom when midwives were helping her to deliver her babies. Childbirth is extraordinarily painful and stressful; mother and child need the best care and attention at that time.

Many times when I was a kid, I had to run or ride seven miles to get a nurse or midwife for my mom, sometimes at two or three o’clock in the morning. I distinctly recall that there was always someone to manage the afterbirth, clean, wash up and deal with blood-stained clothing and bedding.

My heart bleeds to know that a North West mother had to suffer and die so needlessly. It is painful to realise that in 2018, in our supposedly modern society, too many Guyanese women still do not have access to proper medical care before, during and after delivery of babies.

The safe delivery of children should be a top priority for our health care authorities. They have to do more extensive medical outreach programmes and put better systems in place across the length and breadth of Guyana to ensure that pregnant mothers and their offspring get basic medical services. The death of the mother in such harrowing circumstances is very depressing and painful. The Ministry of Health must tremble about this; the government must tremble and the whole of Guyana must shake. We need to fix this problem and do it now!

Regards
Roshan Khan Sr,