MATERNAL MORTALITY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 103, 2 May 1924, Page 6

MATERNAL MORTALITY

Sir Maui Pomare, as Minister of I Public Health of New Zealand, in his statement on the comparatively high maternal mortality rate of the Dominion, describes it as a "stigma" and something "to ■ our shame." It will' be seen from perusal of that statement, published to-day, that more women are dying in New Zealand as a result of childbirth than in many other countries lacking the advantages that we here possess. The causes o: this largely preventable mortality are several, and some are mentioned by the Minister. Onethird of the births take place, he suys, in hospitals. In the case of some private' institutions, Dr. Pomare explains, the standard of equipment and the efficiency is of a high order; in the case of other piivate hospitals a high standard is not attained,- "because the capital cost involved, is beyond the means of the licensee." It is comforting to learn from the Minister's remarks that excellent work is being done in some maternity wards and hospitals, both public aud private; nevertheless, the stigma remains, and it is a very ugly mark, on the showing of the highest authority responsible for the health of New Zealand. A table of rates of maternal mortality in other countries is furnished by the Minister, showing that New Zealand is among the high rates—s.l as compared with 4.7 for Australia, 3.9 for South Africa, and 3.9 for England and Wales. One would have thought that mothers on the average would have a better chance of coming through the great ordeal of childbirth in New Zealand than in crowded England.

Evidently both cause and cure of the high death rate in this country are to be sought in the medical attention and .the nursing. Dr. Pomare, while not attempting to shirk any responsibility attaching to his Department, reminds the medical and nursing professions of. theiv responsibilities in this matter "also, he adds, that of the public* It is not easy to see what the public can do, so much is it in the hands of the professions specified. However, that statement — we do not like to call it an indictment—certainly calls for the serious consideration of the Medical Association, under whose members the nurses have to work. The Association, we feel sure, is already fully aware of the grave state of affairs to which Dr. Pomare has called attention, and has not been unmindful about it. At the same time, it is expected of the medical and nursing professions of New Zealand that they will lose no time in endeavouring to remove the stigma from the Dominion of its maternal mortality rate being higher than that of England, Germany, Japan, and some other countries with very much greater disadvantages and handicaps to successful motherhood than exist

in New Zealand. We have not referred, as Dr. Pomare did not mention it, to the aspect of the

case where mothers have not died as a result of septiceamia or other trouble associated • with maternity, but have become more or less invalids for the rest of their lives from causes that with piopev medical and nursing care could probably have been avoided. The subject is a big one, but so is the mortality rate. It.is also one of very great urgency.