To support the work of the Mercy Women’s Catholic Hospital in Mankessim in the Central Region in repairing women with obstetric fistula, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), presented medical equipment to the Fistula Unit of the hospital to improve the lives of women who are experiencing the devastating childbirth injury, Obstetric Fistula (OF), which causes incontinence of urine or faecal matter.
The equipment included patient monitors, suction machines, microscopes, hospital beds, lockers, trolleys and bed sheets. In a brief statement by the UNFPA Country Representative, Dr Wilfred Ochan at the event to donate the items, he highlighted the need for more collaboration to support healthcare provision for OF patients.
UNFPA country Representative, Dr. Wilfred Ochan, (right) presenting the items to Dr. Silas Amponsah, acting Medical Director of the Mercy Women's Hospital.
Dr. Ochan indicated that UNFPA has been supporting the National Obstetric Fistula Programme in various capacities, including providing financial and technical support for surgical repairs of OF patients, training of surgeons, provision of medical equipment and providing public health education on OF.
‘About 1.8 per cent of every 1,000 childbirths lead to fistula but only 100 women are repaired in a year and this calls for surgical campaigns and outreaches to augment routine surgical repairs to clear the backlog of cases’, he stressed.
Dr Ochan further called for increased effort to upgrade the skills and expertise of surgeons in fistula repairs so as to reduce the current failure rate of surgery. ‘Donating these equipment represents a significant investment in the health and well-being of women and girls living with obstetric fistula.’
Some of the medical equipment presented to the Mercy Women's Catholic Hospital for the repair of Obstetric Fistula.
‘It is also a tangible expression of our commitment to supporting the rights and restoring dignity of all women and girls’, he added. Dr Ochan also lauded the management and staff of Mercy Women’s Hospital for their contributions to ending the plight of women with OF in Ghana.
The acting Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Silas Amponsah indicated that the fistula unit of the hospital caters for patients from all over the country, with the majority coming from the northern parts of the country. He made an appeal for assistance to enable the expansion and upgrade of the structure housing the unit so that more fistula patients can receive treatment.
A surgeon and a specialist at the hospital, Dr. Joseph Langa Berko, said that fistula repairs are largely successful with only a 20 percent failure rate. He explained that the failures may occur due to delayed reporting of cases , severity of the fistula or when the patient is malnourished, in which case they do not heal very well. He however gave the assurance, however, that these cases undergo a second surgery to repair their fistula.
Dr Wilfred Ochan interacting with Ms Rose Mantey, acting Nursing Manager of the Mercy Women's Catholic Hospital during a tour of the fistula unit.
Ms Rose Mantey, the acting Nursing Manager of the hospital, indicated that the greatest challenge facing the unit was funding, since, ‘fistula repairs which cost about GHC5,500 were offered free of charge to the women. This includes surgery, feeding and two admission in the facility for two weeks.’
Appealing for support from corporate institutions and the general public, Ms Mantey said, ‘Currently the hospital has 25 women waiting to be repaired and we call them when we receive funding from benevolent institutions and individuals.’
