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THE PROPRIETRESS of Akwasiase Anane/Aya Maternity Clinic at Tepa in the Ashanti region, Olivia Dadzie-Yonke, has stated that midwives who render services to people in remote areas face severe challenges. She has therefore appealed to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to support midwives, just as he did teachers. The Asantehene recently honoured teachers and non-teaching staff that had decided to teach the rural folks so that they too could become influential leaders in future. At a recent grand durbar of chiefs and people of Asanteman at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, deserving teachers from Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Volta regions were given cash prizes and other items. Speaking in an interview with Daily Guide, Madam Dadzie-Yonke, who is a luminary in the midwife profession, commended the Asantehene for honouring the deserving teachers. According to her, Otumfuo�s action would motivate the teachers to keep up their good work, and could even attract more teachers to go to the rural areas to teach. Madam Dadzie-Yonke however expressed worry that the King�s largesse was not extended to midwives in the rural areas who had equally given up city life to save human lives in the remote areas of the country. She therefore passionately appealed to the Asante Monarch to consider midwives operating in the remotest villages when honouring deserving rural workers next year. Madam Dadzie-Yonke mentioned poor lighting systems, bad roads, lack of transportation and inadequate equipment as some of the problems confronting midwives in the Akwasiase area. She implored the government to also come to their aid immediately, insisting that the challenges stated above were gradually overwhelming them. Madam Dadzie-Yonke, who has been in the midwifery profession for several decades, cited non anti-natal care of pregnant women as a contributory factor to maternal deaths. She admonished the populace to register with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable them to access free health care.