Shortages in public transportation infringing enjoyment of maternal health rights
LUPANE – Expectant mothers in Lupane District are failing to access pre-natal services due to lack of transportation in the area. This follows the prolonged nationwide ban on public transportation in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, a development that now puts women’s lives at risk and that of their unborn babies.
By Minenhle Moyo
Women who spoke to Infocus News said pregnant women from remote areas not only struggle to access transport but also experience challenges in accessing food and other baby materials.
Florence Magagula narrated the challenges women face on a daily basis.
“There was once an incident where a pregnant woman while on her way to the clinic gave birth on the road as she was on a scotch cart. Another lady lost her baby two days after giving birth because she could not find faster modes of transport to take her child back to the hospital,” she narrated.
Magagula added: “Transport is still a problem here in rural Lupane. Pregnant women have resorted to ox-drawn wagons which take longer for them to reach to the nearest clinics or hospitals. We only have one Zupco bus which only operates in the areas that are in town. The police are constantly arresting kombis that try to pirate in the area but some of them are helpful especially for villagers who come from faraway places.”
She bemoaned the state of Ambulances, saying that they were no longer fit to transport patients.
“The state of the ambulances that we use is heart breaking. I stay next door to a lady who drives an ambulance. In the morning when she turns on the engine, she needs another car to help ignite her engine or people to push it,” said Magagula.
Other women who spoke to this publication highlighted food shortages as some of the difficulties that were faced by expectant mothers in Lupane.
Nobuhle Nyathi said that expectant mothers need enough food in order to be able to feed their babies but most of them struggled to buy food due to lack of finances.
“On top of the transport challenge that these women face, most of them are unable to buy food because they have not been working all this time. Even if some of them had the finances lack of transport makes it hard for these women to go to town and buy food,” she said.
Kusile Rural District Council Social Services Officer Dorica Zulu said some pregnant women with complications need to go to the District Hospital. However, transport challenges hindered them from reaching the hospital in turn flooding the nearest local clinics.
“First time expectant mothers and those who have more than six children need to go to the district hospital first because there are possible complications that may arise and need doctors’ consultation. However, because transport is unavailable these women now come to the Council clinic and other nearest health facilities to seek help.”
“We have been receiving large numbers of expectant mothers but some of our clinics do not have maternal services. We still try to help these women wherever we can so that we try and save lives,” she said.
Meanwhile, villagers in Lupane have called on the government to construct clinics with maternal services in each ward, in order to ease the burden of having to travel long distances in search of maternal health services. Lupane residents further called on the local authorities to channel devolutions funds towards constructing hospitals and clinics in the area.