Over the Easter weekend, Port Moresby General Hospital recorded 182 births amidst and fears of Covid-19 and shortage of staff.
It was even alarming when many of those who gave birth were teenage girls, who are regarded by health workers as at high risk.
Staff at the Labour Ward worked around the clock to deliver the 182 babies. On Good Friday, 45 babies were born, Saturday 39 babies, Easter Sunday 48 babies, and 50 babies on Easter Monday.
Shift team leader and midwife, Sister Dephney Hevelawa said due to the extra workload, staff had to take double shift during the long Easter weekend.
She said the beds were all full and mothers had to be assisted to deliver on the floor.
Though medical students assist when available, they only have one or two midwives available on a shift. Sr. Hevelawa took the opportunity to advise women to go on family planning and for expectant mothers to seek assistance quickly when they start to feel contractions.
She said mothers who waited too late either give birth along the way or in the car, risking both their lives and their babies’.
She said girls as young as 14 or 15 years old are being admitted at the ward. She cautioned parents to monitor their children to control such early pregnancies, which can be risky.
The pelvis of a teenage girl is not strong enough to hold the weight of the baby and so there is risk of birthing injuries.
Thus she encouraged all women and girls to seek family planning to save life.