Medical practitioner and president of the Rotary Club of New Kingston, Dr William Aiken, has joined those expressing concern about how some pregnant women are treated at public health facilities.
With several horror stories from mothers over the year, Aiken recently argued that there is some truth to these claims.
“I also know from what I have heard and what I have seen with my own two eyes that women who come from lower socio-economic strata are really treated very poorly sometimes by both the doctors and the nurses,” said Aiken during a forum looking at patients’ rights and responsibilities at the University of the West Indies Medical Sciences building.
“They are spoken to in very derogatory ways, they are spoken to as if they are not persons with dignity, and so, there is sometimes very little compassion, especially for the teenage mothers, they are treated very disrespectfully,” added Aiken.
The forum was organised by the Women Resource and Outreach Centre and the UWI to coordinate efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality under a programme being funded by the European Union.
Collaborative effort
The collaborative effort will see other organisations such as the National Family Planning Board (NFPB), Child Development Agency and the Caribbean Vulnerable Community working to address the treatment of pregnant women in hospitals.
The Programme for the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PROMAC) is focused on strengthening the health system and improving the health-seeking behaviour of the population, among other things, in an effort to reduce neonatal and maternal deaths.
Aiken noted that maternal and child health is one of the focuses of the Rotary Club, and has pledged his club’s commitment to assist with the financing of equipment needed in these areas.
“We know that a society that does not take care of its women and children is destined to not have much of a future,” said Aiken.
He was supported by anthropologist and president of Father’s Inc, Dr Herbert Gayle, who also took issue with how some pregnant women are treated by health practitioners.
According to Gayle, a study which was undertaken by a group of his students about seven years ago returned some horrible and frightening findings.
“It was seriously discriminatory. Light-skinned women got treated first. The petite women who have a symmetric face got treated in the same group. The disabled, dark skin, too young and all the different frames that we created culturally were treated like dogs. That was just what they found,” said Gayle.
Millennium Development Goal
Jamaica failed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of seeing a 75 per cent reduction in maternal mortality and a two-thirds reduction in infant mortality by 2015.
According to the World Health Organisation Observatory Indicator, Jamaica’s maternal mortality ratio was 89 per 100,000 live births while the country’s infant mortality rate was 13.5 per 100,000 live births in 2015.
Under the Sustainable Development Goal, Jamaica, like the rest of the region, has been given the task to reduce maternal mortality to 30 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
In Jamaica, hypertensive disorders, haemorrhage, ectopic pregnancies, abortions and embolism are the primary causes of maternal deaths.
The NFPB will be launching three behavioural communication campaigns focused on increasing the awareness of the benefits of prenatal care, and will be looking at some of the issues women face when they visit health centres.
“The research that we have seen that comes out of the ministry indicates that where the risk factors are greatest is in the 30-plus age group, particularly among women who have already had several children,” explained Cathy McLure, project coordinator for the PROMAC project at the NFPB.
“Women tend to present late for antenatal care, especially when they have had several children,” added McLure.
Couple mothers i know said they hangle them badly at public hospital, when they are in pain they discourage them and mentally abuse them.
I remember hearing a story about how a pregnant lady was bawling for pain and the nurse said “wah u a bawl for the pain never did hot when u did a Tek the f**k” so when i said nothing nuh go so many ppl said similar things happened to them at kph
Is not a lie, the Doctors are very professional and the nurses are the culprit and the admin workers. Awful man! I had to ask an admin rep at KPH one early morning to assist a 5 months old pregnant woman who was moaning loudly and obviously in a lot of pain and standing for the time I observered for over an hour. He finally went and asked the porter to get her a wheel chair to sit in while she waited and that’s just one instance.
We need more trained a lot more midwives in Jamaica. Much cheaper to train a midwives than doctors.
There was a time in Jamaica, where if you did not slip a doctor money, they would not attend to pregnant mothers or leave their homes in the middle of the night to deliver a baby (something my mother told me when she worked at a rural hospital). It is probably still the norm these days.
NURSE HALL DUPPY MUSSI DEH PON DEM TO RASS,, YES DENNIS HALL WIFE,,SMALL IN SIZE BUT SHE WAS A DRAGON, LOL EVERYONE FRAID FOR HER, I PERSONALLY NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. BUT I WITNESS HER..HANDLING PEOPLE AT IT CAN BE THE WAY U CARRY URSELF..JUST TO TELL U MOVE UP PON THE BENCH… SEEMS A SO SHE USED RUFF THE DRUNKARD, TREATMENT CROSS THE RD TO ADULT NO BETTER, A VISITOR FROM N.Y. HEAR A STAFF MEMBER SAYING DAH WOMAN NO DEAD YET?? IT WAS HER GRANDMOTHER THE SWINE REFERING TO
ANONY#4 A LONG TIME… HOME DELIVERY. MAYBE IT DEPENDS ON WEH LIVE U WERE WE HAD TO GO TO HOSPITAL 2 PON BED AND DEM SAY IT STILL A GWAN..A NURSE HALL DUPPY DEH PON DEM. SHE LOVED TO BAWL AFTER PEOPLE ITS ONE BABY I HAD THERE A JUBILEE, BUT THE MOST TALK OF THAT ERA TERRIBLE SHORT WOMAN, HOME WORRIES DEM TEK OUT PON PEOPLE
MY MOTHER DIED IN KPH, THE DOCTOR KNW HER WHEN HE USED TO GO COLLEGE. HE TOLD ME THE NURSES NOT FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS, THEY NEVER LIKED HIM,, SOME A DEM LUCKY TINGS NO REACH DEM WHEN DEM OUTA STREET HOW DE DEAL WID PEOPLE IN DEH, ON THEM PHONE U ASK FOR ASSISTANCE DEM KISS THEM TEETH FOR U A BOTHER THEM, DEM AFFI TREAT THE DON THEM LIKE KING…. FOLKES IT NO PRETTY LOTS A PERSONS DIED FROM INFECTION IN MORE THAN ONE INSTITUTION, I WENT TO A FUNERAL OF ONE
Many of those dry head bitches think dem a jesus bride. Bunch a whores turn nurse fi pretend dem a somebody important. Not to mention how dem thief supplies and nasty no phuck.
Oh yea the era of Nurse Hall (schribble up face Dennis Hall) who used to read news wife. Dat woman was awful to pregnant women, facety like chink. No respect she had. Damn ole b*tch
I find nurses to be vile horrible people. They’re almost always facially challenged as well.
BBC what a generalization! !!
I find Nurses to be the sweetest, kindest,most caring people on earth! !The female nurses are easily some of the most beautiful n sexiest women on the planet! !
The doctors are more unprofessional than the nurses at the public hospitals. Treat people like shit and go on like they are jesus christ on earth. Just come out and tell peeople your mother has cancer and will soon die right in front of the patient. Jamaica’s healthcare sector is disgusting and pure scamming going on like what you see on american greed. All them doing is digging out ppl eyes for money and spitting on them as well. Plus because doctors do not testify against doctors they have no incentive to do a good job as they know they are no repercussions.