Kisumu — Kisumu County Government has denied claims that its referral hospital, the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Teaching Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) has recorded seven maternal deaths in just two weeks.
The County Health Chief Officer Dr Gregory Ganda Friday said contrary to the reports, the referral facility has only recorded a single maternal death so far in October.
Ganda who is the County Executive Committee Member nominee for the Department of Health termed the reports as untrue saying they were aimed at tarnishing the name of the institution.
In a statement to the media after two days of social media frenzy on the number of pregnant women dying at the facility, Ganda said JOOTRH handles the most complex cases in the region by virtue of its level.
"The medical teams at the hospital are highly qualified teams that do their best to resuscitate and restore the health of these mothers and their babies," he said.
Ganda said the facility had only registered a single case.
"We wish to state that only 1 maternal death has been reported so far this month and it was a case of late referral to the facility," he said.
His statement came amid concerns over delayed processing of referral cases, a situation blamed on unavailability of sufficient ambulances.
Impassable roads have also been blamed for the delays.
Ganda went further to announce that the expansion programs at the referral hospital have seen it admit more women giving birth at the facility.
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He said the rapid increase in the number of referrals and deliveries over the last 3 years has seen a 65 percent increase in patients at the facility.
"We wish to state that the number of absolute maternal deaths at the hospital has reduced due to improved health care," Ganda stated.
The official blamed deaths registered in the past to what he termed as severe illness in pregnancy and poor health at the time of presentation at the referral hospital.
Ganda appealed to members of the public to desist from issuing alarmist statements that might have the potential of discouraging mothers from seeking professional services at the health facilities.
He said the statistics of pregnant mothers seeking medical services in hospitals are impressive and the trend might nose-dive if such unverified reports are spread.
"In the last 3 years, we have recorded an increase in mothers opting for hospital deliveries in our public facilities from 71 percent of deliveries in 2018 to 88 percent of deliveries in 2021," he said.
The referral hospital was on the spotlight in March after images of patients lying on the floor along the corridors and walkways due to lack of hospital beds.
The county would later clarify that the beds were overstretched since the number of patients who had turned up for a free orthopedic surgery at the time had outweighed the number of beds.
