Mzimba registers 207 abortion complications
statistics from Mzimba District Hospital show that the facility admitted 207 women with abortion-related complications in its surgical ward between July and October this year.
Hospital authorities say most of those admitted are married women, especially those whose husbands migrated to South Africa.
Speaking yesterday when some members of Parliament (MPs) from the Northern Region visited the facility to appreciate the situation on abortion in relation to the Termination of Pregnancy Bill, a nursing officer at the facility, Wezzie Nyirongo, said the most common complication of unsafe abortion is anaemia.
“In surgical ward, in the first quarter [July to September], we had 553 admissions out of which 144 were admitted due to abortions. That means abortions covered up to 26 percent of the admissions. As of October 2016, the ward had 174 admissions of which 63 were patients admitted due to abortions.
“Out of the 144 abortions, 18 had developed anaemia, representing 13 percent of abortion cases admitted, 11 had septic abortion, representing 8 percent of abortions in the first quarter. In October, out of 63 abortions, 15 had developed anaemia, representing 24 percent of abortion cases admitted,” she said.
These cases, according to Nyirongo, increased the cost of service, treatment and hospitalisation as well as workload on personnel.
She then called for intensive sensitisation among communities to dangers of unsafe abortion, increase in uptake on family planning and involvement of spouses.
Speaking on behalf of the parliamentarians, Nkhata Bay North East MP Commodius Nyirenda stressed the need to create an enabling environment for women to access safe abortion.
“For how long shall we keep on burying our heads in the sand when we know our women are in danger? Women have so many reasons for wanting abortion. We cannot reach a consensus based on religious grounds because we hold them dearly,” he said.
The Termination of Pregnancy Bill has provoked the wrath of religious groups which regard abortion as murder and, therefore, a sin before God. n
