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Ghana: Pregnant Woman Dies During Bawku Curfew Hours
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Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
8 May 2008
Posted to the web 8 May 2008
William N. Jalulah
Bawku
Information picked up by The Chronicle has revealed that a pregnant woman whose identity is not yet known, died last Tuesday after she had gone into labour during the long curfew hours. The woman died after going through excruciating pains without any help.
The Principal Midwifery Superintendent in charge of maternity at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, Elizabeth Tampori, told The Chronicle that the deceased reported to the hospital in the morning, after she had over stayed during her labour period.
She explained that the woman, who arrived at the hospital on foot, looking exhausted, said no one, including her husband, was available to send her to hospital to deliver. This is because most of them had fled the Town for their safety, while others feared that they could be ill-treated by the security personnel for breaking curfew hours.
Torn between death and life, the deceased mustered courage and walked on foot to the hospital, ignoring the curfew hours and the risks associated with it, but her sheer bravado could not save her life. Perhaps, having lost energy to push out the baby, the woman died while she was being attended to. The baby was pulled out dead.
Madam Tampori said the deceased was not the first to undergo such an ordeal, since the restart of the Bawku disturbances last Sunday.
She disclosed that from last Sunday to Tuesday, about 20 pregnant women have delivered at the Hospital, with some undergoing operations. It is obvious that more of the pregnant women would suffer the same fate, because those on medications will only have limited time to go to the hospital.
Though Captain Victor Abbey, Commanding Officer in charge of the Ghana Airborne Detachment at Bawku, said on Tuesday that the death toll was 3 and not 4 as was reported earlier, two respectable sources told this reporter at Bawku that 4 people were killed and buried at separate places on Monday.
At Pussiga, one of the worse affected areas, 3 well-stocked stores belonging to a Mamprusi man were set ablaze, including his family house.
Meanwhile, despite the review of the curfew hours, there is mass fleeing of residents from the area, with some crossing over to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Togo, while others have escaped to Bolgatanga, Tamale and some parts of the southern sector. Yesterday, the Interior minister, Kwamena Bartels announced new curfew hours of 3pm to 7am.
Meanwhile, following last Sunday's renewed disturbances between the two feuding ethnic groups at Bawku, the Kusasis and the Mamprusis, the authorities of the Bawku Presbyterian Nurses Training College, in consultation with the management of Northern Presbyterian Health Services, and the Ghana Health Services has closed down the college indefinitely.
In an exclusive interview with this reporter last Wednesday, the Principal of the college, Mr. James Yambor, explained that the decision to close down the college was necessitated by the imposition of new curfew hours, which made it impossible for effective teaching and learning.
The principal said the closure was also to offer the students the opportunity to recover from the psychological trauma they were going through, since some of them and their families were directly affected by the conflict. It was also very difficult for the authorities to feed the students.
The announcement of the closure by the Principal last Tuesday came as a shock to some students who felt safer by staying on the campus. Meanwhile, Mr. Yambor said some tutors have fled the town, for their own safety.
The college currently has a student-population of 299, made up of 88 males and 211 females, after the recent dismissal of 2 students who had used fake results to gain admission.
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When the General Manager of the Northern Presbyterian Health Services, Rev John Abugri was contacted, he confirmed the closure, and stated that the authorities of the school would monitor the situation for at least one week, before taking steps to call back the students.
A reliable source told The Chronicle that during the turbulence, the combatants targeted the college as they opened gunfire at the lecture halls, but were immediately warded off by the security personnel. As a result, some windows of the lecture hall were destroyed.
Meanwhile, some students of the feuding factions took delight in joining their comrades in the battlefield. A source said a student of the college sustained serious injuries in the battle and was rushed to Bawku hospital.
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| Copyright © 2008 Ghanaian Chronicle. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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