The Maternity ward of the Achimota hospital in Accra is becoming a hub of frustration and pain for expectant mothers due to the serious congestion problem at the facility.
Due to the inadequate infrastructure, some expectant mothers who are delivered of their babies are forced to sleep on floors as they cannot find beds to sleep on.
The only mothers privileged to sleep on beds are the ones who undergo surgery or have emergency cases.
Medics claim this could affect the maternal mortality rate in the country since it could hinder the attainment of Millennium Development Goal number five which talks about reduction in maternal mortality.
Patient Florence Aguddey, a lactating mother, who spoke to the Daily Heritage in an interview, lamented that they are compelled to sleep on the floor because of the lack of beds.
She claimed it is very frustrating as a new mother to be sleeping on bare ground as she feels pains anytime she wakes up from the floor.
According to her, since there is no option; she has to bear with the situation.
She appealed to the government to expand the facility to enable hospital authorities to provide them with decent beds to sleep on with their babies.
Amos Tetteh, a father, told the paper that �I am worried that my wife and baby may contract other diseases because of the situation they are in.
�Why is government mobilizing us to take our pregnant wives to hospitals instead of our usual traditional birth attendants if there is no space to accommodate our wives in government hospitals?� he asked.
The Medical Superintendent at the hospital, Dr. Mark Aglobitse, conceded that the health center is bedeviled with infrastructural development.
He said because of the increasing population in their catchment area, there is a lot of strain on the existing facilities.
�We are overwhelmed by the number f pregnant mothers. The maternity ward is too small to accommodate all of them.�
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