Some group of pregnant women in Koforidua in the Eastern Region has joined long queues for a special palm nut soup at a particular prayer camp for ‘safe delivery’.
According to reports, many of these pregnant women defy their conditions and take to these illegal spiritual exercise instead of attending antenatal care.
The palm nut soup, they believe, possesses the spiritual potency to help them have a problem-free delivery
The Medical Director of the Eastern Regional Hospital, Dr. Kwame Anim Boamah and a Senior Nursing Officer, Madam Doris Darkoa Mantey advised pregnant women to learn to balance spirituality with hospital visits instead of solely depending on the former.
"I'm not saying they shouldn't pray or seek spiritual advice, no! We all pray and I'm a Christian too, but pregnant women should take the hospital visits serious in order to have safe delivery". She said.
Madam Doris pleaded with pastors and spiritual leaders to also help advice pregnant women about the need for medical care whenever they seek their (spiritualist’s) council.
The Eastern region recorded 61 maternal deaths out of 31,380 deliveries in the first half of 2017 compared to 58 deaths out of 30,945 deliveries within the same period last year.