The Covid-19 lockdown and the pandemic situation are disrupting women’s access to reproductive health services as it is critical to draw attention to the issue of early and unplanned pregnancy in the situation.
The current pandemic situation is also disrupting the antenatal and neonatal healthcare services across the country, particularly in the urban areas, as many expecting mothers and mothers of newborns are reluctant to go to hospital fearing Covid-19 infection.
It is also reported that the school closure for Covid-19 situation has exacerbated the child marriage problem further as many girls are forced into an early marriage that results in early pregnancies.
Department of Health sources said that maternal and neonatal access to healthcare has declined significantly to a great extent since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
Against this backdrop, safe motherhood is being hampered in the country.
The National Safe Motherhood Day was observed in the country on Friday amidst the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Maternal mortality rate has risen in this situation.
According to the EPI, a vaccination programme run by the World Health Organisation, the maternal mortality has increased by 25 to 30 percent during the Covid-19 period. Before the epidemic, 50 percent of deliveries took place at home, but now it has increased to 83 percent, says the EPI’s data.
A data of the Obstetrics and Gynecological Society of Bangladesh (OGSB) says that the maternal mortality rate before the epidemic was around 32 percent. But data from 14 branches of the OGSB during the Covid-19 period shows that maternal mortality has increased by 54 per cent.
However, it is not a researched survey, said Prof Gulshan Ara, Secretary General of the OGSB.
She said the increase of delivery at home has increased the risk of maternal mortality and other complications.
According to the Unicef, the Covid-19 situation puts pregnant women and newborns in the most vulnerable situation in Bangladesh. Expecting mothers and newborns are facing problems due to unavailability of proper healthcare services.
Dr Rezaul Karim Kajal, an associate professor of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said that pregnant mothers, who used to have regular check-up, cannot visit hospital and healthcare centres during this time due to fear of Covid-19 infection.
For this reason, high-risk mothers, who must be delivered to the hospital under expert’s supervision, are not getting proper opportunities as they could not be identified, he added.
He further said that one of the leading causes of maternal mortality is postpartum hemorrhage. But at this time, the treatment is being disrupted a lot. Blood donors have been limited. Many maternal deaths also happen due to non-receipt of blood on time.
A teacher of a city school is pregnant, but she is afraid to be admitted to hospital fearing Covid-19 infection. Her expected delivery date is this week, but she is afraid to go to the hospital due to Covid-19 infection and the dilapidated condition of the medical system following the pandemic situation,” she told Bangladesh Post.
Another teacher of a school in the capital said that she is currently in her
eighth month of unplanned pregnancy. She is the mother of two children and she used visit the doctor every month for routine check-ups during her last pregnancy. but this for the fear of the Covid-19, she could not make any appointment with the doctor this time. With her due date approaching, the teacher is fearful of giving birth due to the risk of Covid-19.
A doctor of Nari Moitri’s Urban Primary Health Care Centre at Moghbazar said that they are trying their best to provide healthcare to pregnant women in compliance with the health rules.
The fear for new mothers during the pandemic situation has become even more real after an associate news producer of a local television channel died of Covid-19 just after giving birth at a hospital in the capital on April 16.
Experts said that in order to ensure safe motherhood and safe pregnancy, it is essential for pregnant women to receive high-quality care, before, during and after childbirth.
