Maternal mortality: Busia gets motorbike ambulance

By Titus Kakembo                             

The launch of the motorbike ambulance in Busia is a serious attempt to tackle maternal mortality.

A woman, according to statistics from the ministry of health, has a one-in-six chance of dying during pregnancy as a result of avoidable deaths.

Many of those deaths are easily avoidable given the basic medical support, according to World Vision Program manager, Herbert Muyambi in Busitema.

“The bike is cheap to maintain but will go a long way to save many lives. We will maintain and fuel it for the initial six months,” he said.

"If a woman is pregnant and she goes in labour, it has been very difficult to get her to the health centre within a short time," Muyambi noted.

“That is where the motorbike ambulances are supposed to help,” he added.

A tour of the area was a revelation of health facilities scattered across the remote land, and getting to them is a big problem for many.

Public transport rare
Half of all deliveries are done without trained health workers, while 80 percent take place outside a health facility. Some 70 percent of the population lives off less than $1 (sh2500) a day and many are too poor to hire transport if they are sick.

In the rainy season, many tracks become impassable to normal vehicles.

The motorbike ambulance has just started work in Busia. The bike with its body and a padded cushioned bed cost sh12m. The patient can lie flat, with belts to strap them in, but there is also space for a health worker to support the woman too, if needed.

Special shade
The ambulance has shade to cover the patient from the baking sun or rain.

"The advantage of the motor bikes is that they can easily be managed at a lower level health facility," said Muyambi.

"It is cost-effective in terms of fuel, and you can easily move with the motorbikes to remote places, where there are no roads and where cars cannot go."

"We have a transport problem of bringing the critically sick people to the few referral facilities available," said Busia MP Barbra Oundo. “Each county ought to receive one.”
 
The in charge Busitema Health Center III Dickson Ogutu said that more transport facilities are still needed badly.
"The motorbikes will go to help halve the numbers of emergency caesarean sections,” stressed Ogutu. “This is because they get the women to hospital before an operation is needed.”
 
In Busia, girls often give birth at a young age, meaning complications in pregnancy are all too common. The arrival of the motorbikes has been welcomed warmly by local people, who say they hope the bike will reducce marternal mortality.

“The ambulance is in addition to 300 bicycles that are to be used by the Village Health Technician (VHT) to monitor expectant mothers through their eight months.”

However, MP Wandera calls upon her electorate not to go on a reproduction spree because of the good health service in their midst.

“Mind how much you earn before you bring forth a child,” said Taka. “No responsible parent would love to see their off spring roam the streets, scrounge for food in garbage bins and wallow in jail.”

“In this era, a responsible parent minds the hygiene, health, upbringing and the future of their family,” stressed Taka.