Unsupervised deliveries by mothers is risky, says Manolos chief executive officer, Captain Jurgen Ruh.
Captain Ruh voiced his concern following the numerous medevacs conducted into rural PNG where he saw firsthand the pain and struggles mothers endure.
Manolos Aviation has been evacuating women who experience complications due to pregnancy and childbirth since 2014.
Under its Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) Medevac Program, in collaboration with the Morobe Provincial Government, the company airlifts between 10 and 15 women in distress in a month.
For other provinces, Manolos medivacs between two and three women a month.
On Wednesday, the 15th of September, veteran pilot, Captain Ruh, and his team responded to a labour complication call from the remote village of Tanipai in Goilala district, Central Province.
Twenty minutes after liftoff and a healthy baby boy was born while his mother was in a stable condition.
Captain Ruh voiced his concern, saying unsupervised births in remote areas are dangerous.
“Once things go wrong, quite often the outcome – for the mother or the baby or for both – is sad,” he stated.
“In this case, the mother was in labour for three days so there was a danger for the uterus rupturing as well as the baby going into foetal distress or three days of unsupervised trying to deliver a baby.”
Captain Ruh said he was happy that they got the message in time and were able to supervise the delivery of the baby.
Angela Daniel, who was the first woman to give birth in a Manolos helicopter, was thankful for the assistance but also expressed sadness, saying the people of Tanipai do not have a hospital or health facility.
“Na skul tu. Skul stap but nogat teacher. Bus em karamapim skul. (And school as well. There’s a school but no teacher. It is covered in vegetation.)
“Church tasol em stap. Mipla sa wokabaut go go lo Woitape na mipla sa kisim marasin kam bek. But nogat dokta na mi kam bek lo hia (Lae).” (Only a church is there. We used to walk all the way to Woitape to get medicine. But there was no doctor so I was brought here.)
(Manolos picture showing Angela Daniel being helped onto a stretcher by locals and medevac nurse, Naomi Pamaraka, at Tanipai)
