Hon. Saho made these remarks at the National Assembly on Wednesday as he raised concern over the increasing cases of maternal mortality in The Gambian recently.
He said as legislators it is about time that actions are taken to rescue ourselves and our women from this avoidable circumstance. In order to do this, "we need a bold and multi faceted approach to tackle this long generational crisis in our health sector," he added.
"Our mothers, sisters and wives do not deserve this kind of death, it is true that death is obvious and inevitable but not in the manner we have witnessed of recent times," he bewailed.
According to him, it will be grossly prejudicial to apportion blame to any particular individual: nurses or doctors. However, it is about time we sincerely interrogated our conscience and the type of healthcare system that we have for our people. The maternal deaths that happen all over the country is avoidable and therefore unacceptable.
"I knew four women who met their deaths while giving birth to life and whose deaths have been attributed to the poor and inadequate healthcare attention accorded to them during delivery," he said.
Hon. Saho said the saddest and unfortunate thing is that most of these deaths happened at the termination of their pregnancies, that is during labour, needless to recount the numerous complications and sicknesses that women have to endure throughout the period of pregnancy.
Dr. Ahamad Lamin Samateh, the minister for health said that maternal deaths is a complex issue which has different causes and the health sector is facing man power challenges, adding that the total maternal deaths of the country is 433.
Dr. Samateh said the government of Gambia through the Ministry of Health has plans to improve 14 health facilities and also to build 11 health posts across the country in order to remedy maternal deaths in the country.
