Six maternal deaths since March 2020
All delivery mothers on maternity ward confirmed COVID-positive
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — As he underscored the challenges of pregnant women throughout the COVID-10 pandemic, former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said nearly 100 pregnant women contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic.
While appearing as a guest on The Hitback with Nahaja Black on Monday, Sands said that on one of the major maternity wards in the country, “every single delivering mother was COVID-positive”.
“If you look at the national maternal mortality statistics, The Bahamas was doing relatively well with no more than three to four maternal deaths per year,” he said.
“Since the start of COVID, in the public service, we’ve had just shy of 100 pregnant COVID-positive mothers, and in the private sector maybe 25 or so.
“[There have been] six maternal deaths already.”
Last month, Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU) President Amancha Williams confirmed that a nurse from the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) maternity ward died of COVID.
At the time, Williams said: “We can’t say where she contracted it from, but most likely the area where she worked had an outbreak and that’s the maternity ward.”
Sands noted yesterday that as cases continue to rise, health officials are monitoring the situation closely and urging residents to get vaccinated.
“We are watching hospitalizations,” he said.
“We are watching death of older people. We are now watching death of pregnant women. We are watching death of children.”
Sands noted that in this third wave, there have been children who have been critically ill and in the Intensive Care Unit from COVID-19.
“That is how bad this is and the message is get vaccinated and understand the role you need to play in terms of social distancing, mask-wearing and sanitization.”
There were 121 new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Monday, taking the number of cases in the country to 15,915, with 2,546 active and 134 hospitalized.
