The inadequate beds and limited infrastructure at the Yendi Municipal Hospital in the Northern Region has compelled expectant mothers and those who have been delivered of their babies to sleep on bare floor.
The lucky ones after enduring the pains of labour are provided with either a mat or a student�s bed to sleep on the ground.
This comes on the heels of most pregnant women visiting the hospital with reputed uterus as a result of using unorthodox medicines to induce early birth.
This year, the facility recorded seven maternal deaths with four dying on arrival.
Checks at the maternity and pediatric wards of the hospital reveal that the nursing mothers have been compelled to lay their clothes on the ground for their babies to sleep while they are being given medical treatment because the wards cannot contain the numbers.
The Yendi Municipal Hospital serves as a referral centre for seven districts. Worryingly, the mothers due to frustrations and despair sleep on bare floor oblivious of the health implications such as contracting pneumonia or any communicable disease.
Those that are lucky are provided with mats and students bed to lie on the floor because there are only two beds in some wards.
The medical superintendent of the Yendi Hospital, Dr. Samuel Abankwah, said last year, the hospital recorded seven maternal deaths, adding that most of the case were referred to the facility and there was nothing they could do about them.
He said the main cause of such deaths is ruptured uterus explaining that the pregnant women go into labour in the community and they use a certain chemical called collation which forces the uterus to contract strongly.
Dr. Abankwah added that if the baby is not lying properly or the baby is bigger than the expectant mother�s birth canal, the contraction forces the uterus to burst.
He appealed to the mothers to make sure to deliver with a skilled attendant to reduce the incident of maternal deaths.
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