20th September, 2011 About 800 women die of pregnancy-related complications every year in Kohistan district due to lack of health facilities and trained medical staff, said Prof Mukhtiar Zaman, head of the Chest and TB Ward at the Khyber Teaching Hospital.
“Of the 100,000 live births in Pakistan an estimated 400 women die of pregnancy-related complications while the women in Kohistan district are the worst affected as about 800 die of such complications every year,” said Prof Zaman while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of six weeks training course of midwives belonging to the flood-affected areas at the Kuwait Teaching Hospital here the other day.
He said that economic, health and service provision indicators in Kohistan were poorer than the rest of the country due to which the women were at the receiving end.
The course has been organised by the PRIME Foundation in collaboration with International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF), Canada, to provide training to midwives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so they could assist the pregnant women and improve the health indicators concerning the maternal mortality ratio (MMR).
Prof Zaman, who is also the chief executive of Abaseen Foundation, hoped that in the presence of senior doctors and instructors the midwives would enhance their practical skills to handle pregnancies.
Addressing the course participants, he said that mothers were the best health care providers and hoped that maternal mortality ratio could be lowered through training programmes and improvement in health services.
Dr Saeed Anwar of the PRIME Foundation said that through such projects they intended to build the capacity of midwives of flood-affected areas.
