By Chantalé Fletcher
OF the eight maternal deaths reported in 2021, five were due to Covid-19.
And one Covid-19 related maternal death has already been reported for 2022.
This according to Director of Women’s Health in the Ministry of Health Dr Adesh Sirjusingh during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
He said all the Covid-19 deaths were in women who were unvaccinated.
Dr Sirjusingh said, “Since the start of the year, we have confirmed one additional maternal death in the postpartum period which was added to the (Covid-19 related) five in 2021.”
In addition, there was also one confirmed newborn death as a result of prematurity, one stillbirth and six cases of mother to child transmission, he said.
He said, “Generally outside the pandemic, over the last few years there were three to four maternal deaths
Dr Sirjusingh stated there was a total of 1,181 pregnant women who had Covid-19 since the pandemic with the majority of cases being 1,101 in 2021, and 22 additional cases up until last Friday for January.
He stated the majority of these patients were community-acquired and getting infected in their homes, out and in the workplaces.
“However, of these persons, two per cent have been hospitalised for symptomatic disease, a smaller number in the HDU and some in ICU, where there is currently one patient there now.”
Dr Sirjusingh stated that pregnancy was a high-risk state when it came to Covid-19 and as such there were several critical women who were largely unvaccinated.
He added that preterm birth was also a common complication in Covid-19 infection in pregnancy.
Dr Sirjusingh indicated that internal systems have been put into place for the management of Covid-19 positive pregnant women who need access to obstetrics and gynaecology service.
These also included all clinics, emergency, routine lab – ultrasound, inpatients and other services at hospitals and clinics.
In addition, for those that wish to take the Covid-19 and influenza vaccines, they would be able to do so at the antenatal clinics.
Dr Sirjusingh stated that for breastfeeding mothers, Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines were available, while pregnant women in their second and third trimester could use the Pfizer vaccine.
