By Joyce Kantam Kolamon
Mothers and newly born babies at the Tamale Teaching Hospital have been compelled to sleep on the bare floor due to inadequate beds at the facility.
A visit to the facility by journalists saw mothers breastfeeding their babies on the bare floor while receiving treatment.
The Maternity Ward of the hospital which takes about 50 patients currently has only 22 beds at the ward. The situation has forced mothers who go there to seek medical care to resort to lying on the bare floor.
The frustrated mothers in an interview with GBC News expressed worry about the situation and called on the government and appropriate authorities to support the Maternity Unit of the hospital.
The Sustainable Development Goal three (SDG-3), of which Ghana is a signatory, is about ensuring healthy lives and the promotion of the well-being of all.
The SDG-3, estimates that by 2030, global maternal mortality ratio should reduce, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality to as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.
This is to achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
The Tamale Teaching hospital is a referral facility for the five regions of the North and some parts of Oti region. However, the inadequate beds at the Maternity Unit is a source of worry, since mothers and babies stand the risk of getting infections.
The mothers are worried about the cold floor and dust as a result of too much movements at the ward stressing they pose risk to them.
A Senior Midwifery Officer at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Madam Adam Zenab, said they have no choice than to allow the mothers to lie on the bare floor due to the lack of beds in the ward.
She said the facility is overwhelmed by clients and called on the government to expand and provide more beds to deal with the numbers at the Maternity Ward.
