Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare system is overloaded; the medical care provided to women is affected the most, according to the Vice Minister of Healthcare Azhar Giniyat.
Vyacheslav Lokshin, head of PERSONA International Clinical Centre of Reproductology, confirmed her words.
“In pregnant women, pneumonia caused by the coronavirus developed fast and was severe. The second reason is the deficiencies in the healthcare system – the indirect impact of COVID-19 – when the hospitals were reprofiled, ambulance services faced difficulties, and women were afraid to contact women’s associations,” the expert said.
During the pandemic, maternal mortality in Kazakhstan has almost tripled. The highest rate was registered in the summer of 2020. By the region, the highest rate was registered in North Kazakhstan region.
In general, the maternal mortality rate in the country is growing during the past six years. Therefore, the healthcare expert Ali Nurgozhayev believes that comprehensive research should be conducted before drawing conclusions. He offers his action plan to identify reliable conclusions about the causes of the quick growth in maternal mortality in 2020:
- To analyse each case of death from the perspective of the clinical effect of COVID-19.
- To compare the international rates of excess mortality related to coronavirus with Kazakhstan’s statistics.
“I believe that before conducting, publishing, and discussing such a comprehensive analysis in Kazakhstan, one should not rush to blame the pandemic for everything,” Nurgozhayev said.
At the beginning of 2021, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed concern about the growth in maternal mortality rates in the country. During an extended meeting, he instructed the government to conduct an inventory of all healthcare organisations. Such measures, according to the head of state, will allow identifying and solving the main causes of the high maternal mortality rate.
“Over the past year, we lost 156 mothers; the death rate increased by 2.8 times. These are not just statistics, these are irreplaceable losses for 156 families. The poor equipment of maternity hospitals is indicated among the main reasons for the high maternal mortality rate from year to year,” Tokayev said.
In addition, the President instructed to focus on obstetric and resuscitation services: to take measures to provide them with medical equipment, medicines and healthcare products.
Title photo: inform.kz