The Sunday News
Loveness Mpofu, Sunday News Reporter
THE Government has set aside $8 million towards free provision of blood for maternal related complications as part of efforts to reduce maternal mortality in the country, a Cabinet Minister has confirmed.
The programme which was embarked on after it was realised that the country was losing mothers after failing to purchase blood during delivery is set to reduce maternal mortality by half from the current 36 percent.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa confirmed the development on Friday.
“Yes, it is true that we have set aside $8m for free provision of blood for maternal related complications. This is part of our 100-day plan initiative of striving to lower maternal deaths, as well as ensuring that all health services are not only available, but also accessible to everyone,” he said.
Recently, the Government slashed the price of blood at Government health institutions following the injection of a $4,2 million subsidy from the health levy.
The minister said his ministry was looking forward to reducing the cost to $10 a pint since the health levy was collected each month. He said the Government was looking forward to continued support of the National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) to ensure sustainability of the reduced price.
The Government is collecting at least $4 million every month from the cellphone levy, the majority of which is used to procure medicines. A five percent allowance is deducted from every $1 worth of airtime and is then channelled towards the health levy.
The health levy has reached $22 million.
Two months ago, the price of blood was reduced from $100 to $80 a pint at all Government institutions. Before dropping to $100 in October 2016, a pint of blood was pegged at $135 — a figure beyond the reach of many.
In September last year, statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care showed that 195 expecting mothers died since the beginning of the year, something the Government said was a cause for concern hence the measures to reduce the deaths.
The statistics also showed that 176 expecting mothers had died by 23 July and the figure had risen by 13 to 189 by 20 August.
According to a specialist surgeon Dr Junica Dari, a majority of maternal patients require additional blood and blood cancer patients require at least three units of blood every month. Some of these patients end up dying as they fail to raise the required money to get the blood, which is accessed on a cash up-front basis.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy.
