‘PANDEMIC LED TO NEARLY 50% DECLINE IN HOSPITAL CHILDBIRTHS’
The coronavirus pandemic has caused massive disruption across the globe. As health systems across the country geared up to respond to the pandemic, they inadvertently did so at the expense of other critical public health services. Several reports point out that the number of institutional deliveries has fallen during the lockdown. Covid-19 had also reduced access to contraception and abortion services, which is likely to lead to an increase in unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
Dr Manjiri Kaba, Consultant Obstetrician, and Gynaecologist, Masina Hospital, told The Sunday Guardian: “Due to the overwhelming surge of Covid patients, many pregnant women were turned away due to lack of staff and infrastructure. These women had to resort to smaller nursing homes and government or municipal teaching hospitals to deliver their babies. Needless to say, the childbirth rate in hospitals has dropped by almost 50%. In fact, in the initial few months, there were no deliveries. Being petrified of the virus itself, a lot of ladies preferred to deliver their children at home, either unsupervised or with the help of untrained dais, jeopardizing their own health as well as the health and safety of their child.” Dr Kaba also said that there were many women who came back with complications of poorly managed labour like perineal tears, excessive bleeding, anaemia, wound infections, and sepsis. On the other hand, newborns couldn’t get proper neonatal care and even missed out on their immunizations.
Dr Rajesh Khanna, Deputy Director-health & Nutrition, Save the Children, told The Sunday Guardian: “Comparison of HMIS data (of quarter April-june 2019 and 2020) shows 20% decrease in reporting of Childbirths in 2020 compared to 2019. Data from June 2020 onwards is not available in the public domain. The HMIS data shows a decrease in hospital childbirths/deliveries, and these could be due to 1. disruption in delivery services due to the lockdown, and 2. decreased reporting even if they were happening.”