Dr. Onwar Otien, head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Upper Nile speaking to Eye Radio on Sunday, 6th Nov 2022. Credit: Charles Wote/Eye Radio.

A group of Gynecologists are appealing to the public to donate blood to save the lives of hundreds of women who suffer bleeding during and after deliveries.

Over the weekend, the President of the Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians in South Sudan said at least 1,150 women still die due to bleeding after every 100,000 live births in the country.

Dr. Garang Dakjur attributed the significant maternal mortality to numerous factors such as limited blood transfusion services in most of the facilities.  

Meanwhile, Dr. Onwar Otien, the head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Upper Nile University, and the lead auditor told Eye Radio that postpartum hemorrhage is treatable if competent personal and blood is available.

“Giving life should not be a reason for death. This PPH [postpartum hemorrhage] I don’t want to say only PPH but all maternal deaths are preventable, most of them they are preventable,” said Otien.

“Imagine if there is blood there, if the doctor who is treating know how to good stilling of the tiers and then stop the blood. If there is rapture or tear on the uterus he know how to do all this things, it can be preventable,”  he added.

According to World Health Organization, Postpartum Hemorrhage known as PPH is a blood loss of 500 millimeter or more within 24 hours after birth.

It is the leading cause of maternal mortality in low-income countries and the primary cause of most of the maternal deaths globally.

In October 2017, three South Sudanese Gynecologists published a clinical audit of maternal deaths due to loss of blood, a case study at Juba teaching hospital.

The audit was meant to assess the quality of care given to mothers who died due to postpartum hemorrhage at Juba teaching hospital between the periods of 2011 to 2015.

According to the findings, a total of 32,150 deliveries mothers were reported to have developed bleeding in the first 24 hours of delivery.

Within that period, Juba Teaching hospital registered a total of 56 women who died due to primary postpartum hemorrhage.

Commenting on the matter, the Head of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Juba Teaching Hospital says there is improvement at the public facility to ensure that women do not loss their lives during deliveries.

Dr. Moses Maror however says insufficient blood in the bank remain a major challenge to save the lives of women who develops postpartum hemorrhage.

“Juba teaching hospital is the main referral hospital. All the complicated cases they are being referred from the other centers to the department,” he said.

“And we have a shortage of blood in the blood bank and we are trying to address this issue to the stakeholders at least to improve but the difficulties come from where here, as South Sudanese, I can say it is not a good attitudes.”

“Whenever you have a sick patient and you are complaining you need a blood, you not get a co-patient to donate.”

For his part, the President of the Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of South Sudan express concern on the reluctant by South Sudanese to donate blood.

Dr. Garang Dakjur is however appealing to well-wishers to donate blood to serve the lives of women when require blood.

“It is very unfortunate that most of the blood that we are receiving at Juba Teaching hospital and at the national transfusion services at the blood bank are from our friends who are here within the country especially the Sudanese who are working in town and the UN personnel who are here in the country.”

“They are the one regularly donating for our people but we the South Sudanese, we need to do more on this and we need to have people donating blood to serve the lives of our women.”

The statistic has gone up from 789 deaths amongst 100,000 births in 2021, which also ranked the country’s maternal mortality rate as one of the highest in the world.