A survey conducted in the New Juaben Municipality has shown that many women are resorting to over-the-counter drugs and patronizing herbal clinics to abort unwanted pregnancies rather than going to recognized health facilities.
The survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) revealed that many women, both married and unmarried, preferred visiting herbal clinics in the Municipality. These herbal centres, noted for undertaking abortion services, are fast spreading in the area.
Majority of people interviewed said the attitudes of some health staff at the public health facilities were discouraging, hence their preference to wayside clinics or herbal centres for their medical needs including abortion.
An interesting finding was that, the women said at the herbal clinics, they received all the assurances regarding their safety, care and herbal drugs for abortion, which were lacking at the public or modern health clinic. They said the public health centres rather scared them away with derogatory remarks.
In spite of that, some people told the GNA horrifying experiences they go through after using the herbal concoctions from the herbal clinics. Some said eventually they found themselves admitted at public and private hospitals and clinics to save their lives.
Some had died from such complications in their attempt to abort the unwanted pregnancies after taking all sorts of drugs from the chemical shops and herbal clinics.
A queen from one of the communities who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the herbal clinics, being manned by unqualified persons, had become centres for carrying out abortions.
She said after taking the herbal drugs, most of the women bled for many days and sometimes became unconscious and had to be revived in hospitals for the safety of their lives.
The queen narrated a story where a married woman, who claimed the husband was irresponsible and so decided to terminate her pregnancy, died after taking herbal concoctions given to her from one of such herbal clinics.
The issue of abortion and post abortion care, have become the focus of the Ghana Health Service and the government in recent times given the efforts being made to attain the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and infant mortality.
Source: GNA
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