Kiir opens new women’s maternity ward in Wau

By James Deng Dimo

July 16, 2014 (WAU) – South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit has opened a women’s operating threatre and maternity waiting home at Wau teaching hospital in Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

The new ward, which was facilitated by the Canadian ministry of health, contains a laboratory, x-ray machine and blood transfusion services.

Meanwhile, Anne Itto, South Sudan’s acting secretary-general, said women must be given proper care throughout their pregnancy to ensure their health and that of their child.

The ward is mandated to serve women across the Bahr el Ghazal region and other parts of South Sudan.

“People were travelling outside the country looking for better medication, but now we are making our own hospitals like what we are inaugurating today,” he said during the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

He said the ward was currently being run by foreign doctors, but local medical staff are currently undergoing training and will take over once they finish.

President Kiir urged health workers at Wau teaching hospital to educate people in their local communities about the importance of voluntary blood donations.

“Our people were dying because we were not having [a] blood bank, but this blood will not be available without our voluntary contribution. This needs our commitment to daily contribute our blood for banking so that no woman will die due to blood shortages,” he said.

The government has also donated an emergency ambulance to the ward.

Jamine Schunner, the Canadian government’s representative in South Sudan, said the health sector remained a priority focus for Canada, adding the government was committed to providing medical support and training.

South Sudan has one of the highest reported rates of maternal mortality in the world, with more women dying in childbirth per capita than any other country in the world.

(ST)