First Aid: Where there is no doctor at child birth

Sep 19, 2016

There are instances where some women have given birth suddenly in an expected places like near the roads, in vehicles or even in compounds. When such an incident happens, Dr. Charles Kasozi, a family physician working at Butabika hospital said hygiene is very crucial and the first thing people helping the woman should do is separate the baby from its mother by cutting the umbilical cord and proper care must be given both to the baby and mother. He explained that such environments are risky and a baby is susceptible to getting infections like tetanus, meningitis, pneumonia and should be well covered, birth injuries for instance can get injuries of the head, limbs and gets fractures especially if the baby falls down. He further notices that during antenatal care, expectant mothers are taught how to handle such emergencies and most of them move with maama kits which contain things like surgical blade cotton, polythene bag and these should be crucial in such instances when a woman gives birth in such surroundings. On the side of the mother, he explains that in the process of a baby coming out, the head may injure the birth canal of the mother and sometimes she may bleed mildly or severely, the placenta should be delivered and the mother rushed to the hospital very fast. It is important to remove the entire placenta from the uterus so the uterus can contract and control the amount of vaginal bleeding. Failure for a placenta to come out causes postpartum haemorrhage which is one of the leading causes of maternal death among women. "This is a medical emergency, the baby and the mother must be rushed to the hospital for detailed care to ensure nothing went wrong during the process of child birth," he said