National News

Machinga registers 10 abortion cases daily

 

Machinga district medical officer Innocent Mhango has said the district registers one of the highest post-abortion cases in the Malawi with the district hospital attending to 10 cases per day.

He revealed this in an interview on Tuesday at the end of a discussion on the Termination of Pregnancy Bill (ToPB) organised by the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortions (Copua) Heath Task Force to familiarise medical personnel in the district on the Bill.

Kamwendo stressing a point during a presentation
Kamwendo stressing a point during a presentation

“In a day, the district hospital alone gets between five to 10 cases of post-abortion care. These are either induced or spontaneous abortions.

“However, many visit our health centres, but I cannot give you the exact figures from health centres now. The problem is big and these discussions are relevant, particularly that Malawi still registers high maternal mortality,” said Mhango.

The meeting started with a session to understand the participants’ impression on the ToPB. The session exposed information gaps about the Bill as most of the participants could not efficiently justify their arguments either for or against the Bill.

Associate professor Francis Kamwendo, a gyneacologist based at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre who is also a member of the Copua Health Task Force, said this is the reason they are taking the Bill to medical professionals.

“There is high information gap on the abortion issue even among medical staff and we need to do more to reach many of them, including the public,” he said. n

Related Articles

Back to top button