MATERNAL MORTALITY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19032, 7 June 1924, Page 5

MATERNAL MORTALITY

AROUSING THE PUBLIC CAMPAIGN OPENED. IMPORTANT MEETING AT PALMERSTON. (Per Press Association.) PALMERSTON N. June 6. The Dominion-wide campaign of the Health authorities against the alarming increase in maternal mortality opened at Palmerston North this evening, when eminent speakers addressed a large audience. The Mayor (Mr. F. J. Nathan) presided. MINISTER OF HEALTH. The Minister of Health said that during the last five years the deaths of 755 mothers had occurred as a direct result of child-birth.. Of these approximately one-third were, at triputed to puerperal sepis. Without considering the position New Zealand Occupied in comparison with other countries, it was obvious these figures were too high, and that the greater number were preventable. The fault chiefly lay with the cal or nursing profession, women* themselves, and the inadequacy of hospital accommodation also. Labour was a physiological process of nature, and if the unhampered, would deliver the vast majority of women without detriment to health. Nature’s methods were now nately regarded as out of date. Pressure was brought to bear upon medical attendants to expedite delivery by instrumental means, with resultant incalculable damage to, and sometimes death of, mother and offspring. It w’ould be a good day for the women of this country when they realised that in the majority of cases a doctor was only necessary to see that things were going right. Denmark had little maternal mortality, yet doctors only attended abnormal cases. Not all the maternity hospitals in the Dominion were satisfactory, but the Department’s policy was for a rigorous system of regulation and inspection, and the establishment of well equipped institutions in connection with public hospitals. Expectant mothers must be encouTaged by all means to submit themselves regularly for medical examination in the later months of pregnancy. Ante-natal clinics in connection with St. Helens Hospitals, generally speaking, were not well attended, The Plunket Society could help very much in this respect by educating womenfolk to the necessity of ante natal treatment. Regarding the economic aspect, there was too much interference legal and illegal, and hundreds were unable to have families. Education was the keynote for solving the problem, and in this the Plunket Society could be of tremendous assistance.

DR, VALENTINE. Dr. Valentine, Director ot Health declared that maternal mortality in New Zealand was much greater than it should be. and it had reached the alarming proportion of six per 1000 of population. In the United S ates it was 6.8 and in England but 3 per 1000. Hospital boards would also be expected to assist in the establishment of maternity homes. In the North Island there were at. present 38 maternity homes and 34 in the South, but hundreds more would be required, involving the expenditure of £350,000 to £4OO 000. It was a public duty, and all must realise this and do their part for the general welfare, DR. PAGET. Dr. T. L. Paget, Inspector of Hospitals, said the Kelvin inquiry had aroused in the minds of medical men a realisation of the very serious position in which, they stood, and while thorp wore many quarrels which obscured the main issue, the great causes of death consequent upon maternity would have to be concentrated upon, and methods of saving mothers considered. Many cases were left until the last stages of emergency, and then an attempt was made to accomplish things that should have been previously provided for, often too lato. The speaker stressed the necessity for consulting a qualified medical man or trict nurse in the early stages of pregnancy. Many ailments could be detected in the early stages, and at least one-third of these could be saved by prompt attention. The speaker continued to urge the value of sterilisation in all matters pertaining to women. Thus the great majority of the causes of sepsis would disappear. DR. TRUBY KING.

Dr. Truby King, Director of Child Welfare, dealt with the medical aspect, of various diseases, and said the public, could not fully realise the significance of t’.ese without fully understanding the functions of the various organs. “For every JOO women who die through this dreadful cause, 1000 are gravely damaged by the same cause. Wo think of the adult and forgot the child, the latter frequently having to endure an existence which should not have been forced upon it. This could be stayed in the beginning if we would only be sensible, and we must wipe out this stigma. The education of both women and mon vwt

necessary, and in a few years the Dominion would have the distinction of having its mortality rate lower than any • t her country. ’ ’

A resolution endorsing and supporting the action of the Government in the steps it is taking in the mattef was passed.