A shortage of foetal monitoring equipment at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) has been significantly eased with the donation of 14 these critical maternal health-care machines which will enhance the facility’s capacity for early detection of pregnancy-related complications.

The donation, valued at $32 million, was made on Monday through a partnership involving the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, Food for the Poor Jamaica, and Women without Blemish. It included 13 cardiotocography (CTG) machines, and one state-of-the-art ultrasound machine,

Senior medical officer at VJH Dr Garth McDonald told the
Jamaica Observer that the equipment addresses a persistent need at the maternity hospital for foetal monitoring equipment which frequently outweighs available resources.

“We had say six to 12 functional machines at any one time and they would go up, go down, and you would get additional machines because each has a half-life. But as a single injection, this would have been the largest injection of these CTG machines where we would have 13 of these machines all at one time. So, this would have added to what we already have and this would… almost solve that issue. The aim was to solve that issue all at the same time,” said McDonald.

He said that the additional machines would improve patient care and posited that through the early detection of pregnancy complications, Jamaica’s high maternal mortality rate could also be significantly lessened.

Senior pastor at Liberty for Living Ministries International and Women without Blemishes Rowan Wade, committing to seeking future partnerships to provide greater health care outcomes at Victoria Jubilee Hospital at the handover ceremony of 14 pieces of critical maternity equipment on Monday. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

According to the World Bank Group Jamaica’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is approximately 130 deaths per 100,000 live births. It remains above the Caribbean and Latin America’s regional average, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births.

“The hospital, specifically the labour ward and antenatal wards are specifically thankful for these machines. It will help with an overall quicker diagnosis. It would allow us to be doing these tests for women quicker. Those that would need these machines to be on for continuous monitoring, we will greater access for that. It will make their work easier and it will boost staff morale. And we know once the mental state of the health-care workers is better… it provides greater delivery of care in the end,” added McDonald.

The need for more maternal machines in hospitals across Jamaica was what drove Elder Paul Sutherland of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to respond to the request of the VJH.

Sutherland told the handover on Monday that the church narrowed down what was the greatest need at the hospital and identified that enhancing the child birth process could significantly save lives.

“We looked at the infant mortality rate in Jamaica, and it’s alarming. It’s very scary compared to the other industrial or developed countries of the world, it’s about double,” said Sutherland.

“The need for equipment that would meet the basic needs that my children experienced 40 years ago, that was lacking in this hospital, and that was a solid ultrasound machine that can detect the stress on babies when they’re still in your womb. When they are unborn and we can monitor if those babies are stressed and correct medical procedures can take place to assist the doctors and nurses in that care. The needs were great for this hospital, more than we could address but that was what was determined to be the biggest impact for the amount of money that was spent,” he said.

Senior medical officer at Victoria Jubilee Hospital Dr Garth McDonald delivering the vote of thanks at the handover ceremony for 14 pieces of critical maternal equipment to the hospital on Monday. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Rowan Wade, senior pastor at the Liberty for Living Ministries International, told the Observer that they also identified the need at the hospital, and launched several projects to aid the maternity ward through its female ministry branch, Women without Blemish, while collaborating with the Church of the Latter-day Saints and Food for the Poor.

“Some of the needs that we identified was the inability of the hospital to give consistent due care to the mothers who are in distress. And so some of the mothers that were in distress, they just didn’t have enough machines to tend to all of them at the same time… That’s why our infant mortality rate is so high, because we don’t have equipment to identify issues with babies when they are in the womb,” said Wade.

“Thirty-five million dollars may seem like a lot to you and I but there are people in Jamaica who can write a cheque for that on a daily basis if necessary, and so if each year the person who can afford it, we can appeal to them to say contribute to your country just one machine, in a few years’ time we’ll be all right and our population will begin to stabilise,” said Wade.

In the meantime, state minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Krystal Lee said the equipment represents “greater opportunities for early detection, improved monitoring and timely interventions”.

According to Lee, the true value of the equipment should not be measured by the millions announced, but by “healthier pregnancies, safer deliveries, stronger families and brighter futures”.